


Inkheart & Leaded Shield.

by darlingjongin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, Language, M/M, Science Fiction, Slight Violence, side character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 11:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16386821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingjongin/pseuds/darlingjongin
Summary: Kyungsoo is a Literary Detective, part of the elite force in charge of keeping the characters from your favourite books in line when they aren't being read. So far it isn't what Kyungsoo expected; as the new guy he's been stuck in the Nursery Division where nothing fun ever happens. Until one day Mother Goose goes missing and now it's up to Kyungsoo to solve the case.





	Inkheart & Leaded Shield.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Code: #B195  
> Title: Inkheart & Leaded Shield  
> Pairing: Chanyeol/Kyungsoo  
> Rating: PG-13  
> Warning: slight violence, sidecharacter deaths, language
> 
> Apologies to the mods who I've been begging multiple deadlines and still not making it on time. I salute their patience with me and apologies once again.
> 
>  
> 
> Note: The famous book characters Kyungsoo and Chanyeol will be meeting are presented as different exo members, although I have not used their real names but the characters that they are representing, I hope I have made a clear description so that you as a reader can distinguish them.

 

“The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”   
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_**Inkheart & Leaded Shield.** _

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world is not as it seems. Not our world, nor the world in which you think is not real. Over the centuries, science and fantasy has interlinked through the thriving love for imagination and explanation, the expansion of curiosity of the people stirring their next in endeavour in inventions unknown to man. Magic and Science so often collided to the human eye, but over the coming years, mankind has found it to be that magic and science coincides with each other, the very nature of the greater power and being intertwining with each other like a vine which had twisted in on itself due to time and compromise. Magic has become Science and Science has become Magic.

And the world is not as it seems.

 

_Requesting to admit human: Do Kyungsoo to Portal 004 of the Nursery Division._

Do Kyungsoo downs the last of his coffee, letting the burning sensation tickle the back of his throat, eyes rolling at the sector he’s been assigned to the moment of graduation. They were not allowed to take objects from the real world, the clothes on their back being made from the silk of a dragon’s skin from the Fantasy Division, thus being able to pass through the portal which lead them to different dimensions, infinite as long as the human imagination can still think, often leading them from one world to another in flashing colours, mixture of solid and liquid, changing shapes and never ending of new aroma which the humans can never begin to describe once passing through.

The world is not as it seems.

The mind of the people had become stronger and their love for fictional characters even more so. As the great novelist, Stephen King had stated, _‘Books are uniquely portable magic’._ Yet, not many people would’ve guessed that the world would have resurrecting his words in the literal sense, but with magic comes science and with love comes the invention for the human soul to personify the souls that they fell in love with on paper, written words which had leapt through the pages and rose to the full sense of the word.

Imagination had become reality and Do Kyungsoo is a witness of it.

_Welcome to Chartam._

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he already hears the chittering of his colleagues beside him, talking about their day at work yesterday, a massive case they solved a week ago which they still run their mouths talking about.

He wears his police uniform, navy blue in colour, humble yet sophisticated with a leather strap which holds his gun and baton, both he thought were useless weight given the circumstances he was put into.

‘Do Kyungsoo, how’s it going?’, his colleague voices out, jumping out of the Fantasy novel with a necklace made of golden feather. She had long locks which she usually tied in a ponytail, yet Kyungsoo noticed it was now in a Viking style braid.

‘You just came in from last night?’, he asks with wide eyes wonder, his curiosity pulsating as he spots her clothes slightly scratched with what seems to be dried blood pasted on her sleeves.

‘Yeah… We had to handle a dragon infiltrating a small town. The Chief gave me this necklace as a thank you’, she shows of the jewellery which shines the most as the lights in the room reflects off the metal and blocks Kyungsoo’s view for a moment as it hits his eyes.

He watches the small jumps in her steps and the wide grin on her face as she follows their Seniors who probably came along with her for the task, their voices of excitement and boasting mixes together in one loud bang. Kyungsoo hated it.

He hated that he couldn’t join them in the arrogant boasting. He hated how he wasn’t tasked to take care of a rouge dragon. Not even a petty thief.

‘Do Kyungsoo! Hurry up! You’re going to be late for the morning registration!’, the holder of keys, also known as the fountains, since they hold the passcodes for each of the portal assigned under their care.

‘Yes, Sir Alfred’, Kyungsoo whines as he stomps his way over to the end of the Hall where no one really goes to, the portal being much smaller than the others, wooden rim around the entrance rather than the usual gold or silver. Each portal was circular in shape, like a Hobbit’s house, but bigger, sheened with a silver glass finished, a lock code placed by the side to only which a Fountain can open with their fingerprints then place the specific codes which changes every month.

Kyungsoo looks down in somewhat shame as he sees other police officers passing him and avoiding the rusting portal he is standing in front of, their steps shifting into much larger portal which takes them to bigger worlds.

‘I’ll see you soon’, Sir Alfred presses the lock code and enters the pin, seeing the door turn into liquid, a kaleidoscope of colours bouncing off into each other until the liquid turns into another matter of its own, not of this world and can only be described as weightless as gas yet as solid and soft like jelly.

There are different portals in the National Chartom Department, one which leads off to another dimension, a whirl unknown from any human world, sinking deep into infinite depths of shining possibilities.

Or in Kyungsoo’s words, each portal thrusts you to different genres of novels, sucking you into their world. He had seen his colleagues jump out of the horror genre, uniforms drenched in blood and fluids, eyes sparkle with inhumane glee at the sight of blood and gore. His fellow mates leaping out of thrillers with bags of guns and books full secrets, and despite not being much of a fantasy guy, he was quite envious of those who would return from quests bringing golden chickens and carrying amulets with magical powers – the powers didn’t work in the real world – so most of the time they were just rewarded with amulets that look good for display.

At least it was better than his position.

‘Did you hear about it?’, Kyungsoo hears the whispering form his fellow officers coming out of the Fantasy Portal.

‘What?’

‘George RR Martin… He’s gone missing’

‘Him too? That’s the second writer who’s just gone off the face of the Earth’, other whispers into the conversation, the group holding up their badge of identification before leaving the main hall of Chartam for their break.

Kyungsoo has heard of these endless stories and rumours of writers going missing for a few weeks or even a few years before coming back looking lifeless, less than human. Most of the writers who come back usually never pick up another pen again. Rumours have it, a few of their characters have tried to reach out to them to change their own fate, like a gnawing child wanting a different candy. Apparently, it makes a writer go insane.

The gatekeeper of the Nursery Division, an old man, grey-haired and skin shrivelled as a raison sits by the side of the portal, guiding the whole Division and controlling the main buttons of the portal. He may look odd and slightly out of place amongst the new hot blood seeping into the Divisions, but his friendly smile and loving nature made Kyungsoo like him the most amongst everyone else in here.

‘Good morning son’, he greets Kyungsoo with a wave and a smile, as usual.

Kyungsoo didn’t need waste any time as he passes through the rainbow matter which felt nothing when it touched his skin, yet it did leave some stains on his shirt from time to time, his vision being imploded into nothing more than blends of colours and shapeless objects with floats around him, thrusting him into the world unknown.

‘Morning’, although their interactions were short, Kyungsoo was still grateful for the welcoming smile he gets before he enters in his own personal hell.

‘Kyungsoo!’, he hears the head of the Nursery Division calling after him as soon as he passes the portal and steps into what can only be described as Dr Seuss’ world if he had taken opium and got high on cocaine.

‘Yes Madam’, Kyungsoo bows to his superior, feeling a little bit of his soul leaving when he hears the same goddamn songs being played over and over again, along with cheery little inanimate objects who aren’t supposed to be alive, jumping and cheering. He had always wondered why children’s writers would make objects into living things and on his first day, he almost lost his mind trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was talking to a living toaster.

‘I need you to run a register of all the characters before morning starts’

‘Why? I’m clearly only supposed to supervise them’, Kyungsoo follows his superior who guides him towards the small office, painted in bright yellow and mixed with an obnoxious shade of orange. Least to say, he hated every time he had to set foot in the abomination that was their division office.

‘I just need someone to quickly go over before the days up, I’m going to be attending a meeting in less than three minutes and I need to be in the portal is thirty seconds, so do be a good favour Kyungsoo. Register all the characters in and I’ll put a good word in for you’, Madam Velma rushes to grab her bag, propelling Kyungsoo to do whatever she’s asked with a bribery that she always pulls on the rookie officer despite not even promising to put in a good word every time Kyungsoo obliges.

‘This time you better!’, Kyungsoo shouts after her, his eyes landing on the stacks on papers which lists each of the characters currently living in the Nursery Division, which is a lot, despite popular belief.

Like any other nursery, you’d come across, the Nursery Division isn’t far from any other daycare, with its bright primary colours, Dr Seuss like music which continues to play again and again until the day draws into a close.

He didn’t want to be ungrateful for the opportunity of being one of the few newly graduate officers from the police academy to gain access and be able to work in the Chartam. But good Jesus Christ, he’d rather be stuck at a traffic inspector instead of being buried in a world where everyone is happy and singing tunes which get stuck in his head and torture him even after he’d gone home.

‘Want any help?’, the Cat in the Hat protrudes out of one of the bright pink bushes by the side of the office, smiling down at him with his long legs. Kyungsoo at how tall the cat actually is in real life, slightly taller than him for a fact.

‘No’, he rejects the cat’s offer to help since every time the poor fella tried to help the rookie officer, it always ends up something being on fire – which obviously wasn’t the poor character’s fault – he was known to be a clutz.

‘But Madam Velma is gone. You’re officially in charge here!’, the cat in the hat jumps up and down, his tail wagging back and forth excitedly, ‘I’ve always preferred when you’re in charge!’, the cat in the hat shouts, rather loudly, which again Kyungsoo is used to since the cat is also known for being loud and persistent.

‘That’s because I let you do whatever you want’, Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, walking in a pavement made of candy and almost slipping by how smooth it was. He had always thought the pavements in this Division were impractical.

‘So, what are you going to do?’, the cat asks, his black hair messy, strands flying out from all angles. Kyungsoo closes his eyes as he tries not to get agitated every time the cat steps with his squeaky shoes that elongates from the toes and forms into a curl. His long hat, red and black stripes, also didn’t help since the obnoxious colours always made Kyungsoo’s eyes ache.

‘Look, I promise I’ll be good, just let me stand by your side and help you maintain the Division. I bet I can be good at it!’, the cat, with his continuous eager voice, leaps into the air and jumps up and down with his hand gripping on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

‘Oh, hey Kyungsoo’, a walking tomato walks past the pair, giving the officer a morning wave as Kyungsoo nods in acknowledgement. They were getting nearer to the archives, also known as the characters homes.

Each Division has their own version of a village, with each character owning their own home, intricately coded to match their story so whenever someone picks up a book to which they belong, they can easily be transported back into the pages to which they had been born in. It was an easy process, and everyone got along with the agreement pretty well.

‘Look cat, I’m gonna get the register done quickly and you can pester me later, okay?’

‘You know I don’t like being called the cat, it makes my blood boil all the way to the top of my hat’

‘You’re doing it again’

‘Doing what?’

‘Rhyming’

‘Oh, sorry’, the cat giggles after also realising it, ‘It’s fun sometimes, to speak in rhymes’

‘Again’, Kyungsoo points at the cat, ‘I thought we made a deal’

‘I was doing a good job beforehand!’, the cat spoke out in defence, yet Kyungsoo ignores his banter and continues on to where the village officially starts, looking down on the register and reading the first name on the list.

‘Stop whining’, Kyungsoo tells him off, although he didn’t stop the cat from following him to the first house, allowing him to stand beside whilst he knocks on the door. It was a small house, too small for Kyungsoo to fit in, having to bend down slightly to knock at the wooden door, painted in red which compliments the washed down orange bricks. The pair waits patiently for the door to open, Kyungsoo looking down to see Mother Goose’s name written first on the list. They wait for a minute longer before Kyungsoo bends down and knocks again, curious why the usual prim and proper Mother Goose wasn’t answering the door.

‘It’s not in her nature to ignore a knock on the door’, Kyungsoo whispers to himself, turning to the left in an attempt to peek through her front windows. His eyes gaze towards her kitchen, the dining table unoccupied.

‘Maybe a reader has opened her page, and maybe she’s performing in front of her stage’

‘It’s not a stage, it’s a book’, Kyungsoo explains once more to the cat who never seems to understand the process of being read. He looks down on his watch resting on his right wrist, checking the time, ‘That can’t be right, it just hit six o’clock in the morning… Children don’t go to school until seven’

‘Morning tales make great ales’

‘Great ales?’, Kyungsoo stops what he was doing to turn back and look hard at the cat, ‘You’re supposed to be a child’s character’

‘Yeah, but that doesn’t mean my creator doesn’t know a thing or two about having a good time’

Kyungsoo decides to ignore the cat once more and turn back around to the situation at hand. He feels a slight shiver racing through his spine when he catches a glimpse of some chicks, which were certain characters from her story walking past them on the sandy pavement.

‘Hey, hey!’, Kyungsoo stands up and jogs towards the peep of chicks, ‘Hey, have any of you seen Mother Goose?’

‘Mother Goose? Mother Goose?’, they all chant simultaneously, looking at each other for any confirmation as they flap their tiny wings and shake their tiny heads, ‘No, no, no’

‘I don’t think so’, one of them speaks out, the one with a blue striped bow tied around their neck, ‘I saw her last night walking in her house to sleep’

‘But nothing from this morning?’, Kyungsoo asks, receiving a bunch of nods, ‘Okay, Well, have a nice day then’, he lets them go before they latched on the worried expression etched on his face.

This doesn’t feel right at all.

‘You need any help?’, the cat jumps back on his side, this time his expression not so cheery, his red hat drooping lower now that silence has taken over.

‘Right, come with me. We’re going back to the office’

 

***

The Cat in the Hat gleams at the inside of the office, smiling in glee at the bright colours of the walls and the shimmering gold of the desk as he walks in, his paws touching the soft marshmallow pillows and the yellow colours plants. This has been the first time he’s stepped inside the Division Office – most characters weren’t allowed inside these walls anyway – but Kyungsoo was in a hurry and the Cat continues to offer his useless help.

‘Okay’, Kyungsoo whispers to himself as he logs into the computer, typing in Madam Velma’s password he once saw when he was handing her coffee one morning, and his eyes just happened to slip to see her fingers typing the password.

Kyungsoo is sent to Madam Velma’s desktop to which he is greeted by dozens of files all with encrypted locks so he can’t get into them.

‘Damn it’, he punches the desk as he attempts to open a file only to be locked out.

‘You said a bad word’, the cat points out with a slight whining in his voice, like a child outing an adult.

‘And you drink alcohol’, Kyungsoo snaps back, deciding to open the draws to Madam Velma’s desk, seeing another pile of printed registers, all unticked. He takes them out and one by one checks the date printed on top of each paper, ‘These are all the dates starting from last week’, Kyungsoo whispers to himself, reading each of the lists and finding out none of them had been checked, ‘She hadn’t kept an eye on any of the characters for a whole week now…’, Kyungsoo lays the pile of paper down on her desk, curiously looking around her desk to see any more signs of something that might be linked to Mother Goose’s sudden disappearance.

‘Don’t be sad, a frown is bad’, the cat pats Kyungsoo’s shoulder, ‘why don’t we eat, why don’t we feast, why don’t we forget everything, so we can be at ease?’

‘Can you stop with the rhyming?’

‘I’m sorry! I do it when I’m stressed!’, the cat jumps back at him, scratching his arms and shaking slightly, ‘Mother Goose was like a mother to me… A mother to everyone here… Why would she leave?’

The Cat in the Hat contemplates to himself about the possible reasons why the cheery goose would not be in her home this morning, scratching his chin and looking out to the window whilst Kyungsoo continues to walk around the small office, bending down to look over to the bins and picking out crumpled pieces of paper to see if Madam Velma might’ve gotten a newsletter from the main Chartam Archive Centre. He picks up another small crumpled note and unfolds it –

‘Kyungsoo!’

‘What?’, Kyungsoo jumps back at the sudden yelp, ‘What is it?’

‘It’s nearly seven o’clock!’, the cat shrills and points at the clock which hangs on the wall vigorously, ‘The children are awake!’

‘Oh shit’, Kyungsoo stands up and drops the crumpled piece of paper back into the note, ‘Right, I need to report this to the main office… Cat, can you go back to the village and take everyone’s register, make sure to check if Mother Goose has come back’

‘You’re giving me an actual job?!’, the Cat leaps into the air, almost like gravity has stopped existing, the cat’s smile stretching from one ear to the next since Kyungsoo has given him an actual task.

‘Don’t do anything stupid whilst I’m away, okay?’

‘You got it!’

 

***

 

The Northern winds from ashore meet the midland highs of the East, the sun slowly peaking to its rise as another day comes again, speaks of orange sunlight kissing the green grass good morning. The iridescent gleam of the palace walls stands tall amidst the whole kingdom, it’s enormous structure rendering strength and agility.

It has been a whole night since the young prince has seen his princess and he’s beginning to feel agitated, a shivering sensation running through his spine, albeit in his lifetime, he’s always meant to search for his princess.

‘Your Highness, have you slept well?’, he hears one of his servants entering the balcony of his room, the winds touching their faces as the clouds above them set to welcome another clear blue sky.

‘Not so much this time’

‘Why is that, your highness?’

‘The Princess didn’t visit me’

‘She should be in her tower by now’

‘No. Not that…’, the young prince tightens his belt as he formally settles into getting into his attire which matches the words that are printed on the pages of his life, the exact same outfit of a pure linen shirt, dark trousers with a belt made from the skin of his previous defeat. He’s been wearing the same clothes for two centuries now.

‘What is it that troubles your mind your highness?’, his servant asks again, his voice forever formal and monotone amidst conversation.

‘She usually visits the palace on my birthday. That’s always been our tradition but… She just never showed’

‘A tradition of two hundred years your highness. She may have wanted a bit of change’

‘Change?’, the prince turns back to look at his servant, seeing the same clothes hung around him, the hole on his right-side shirt due to a rat’s teeth along with numerous wine stains. He had always wondered why their writer would give such a humbled man of the royal staff such as peasantry clothing, but then again, he stopped questioning a lot of things years ago.

‘Prince Chanyeol! Prince Chanyeol!’, the young prince hears his name echoing from behind him, the palace walls erupting as the door to his chambers swing open.

What the prince sees is out of the ordinary in the early hours of a new day, one of the royal magistrates running breathlessly towards him, a hand on his heart as he looks straight at him with bloodshot eyes and a torn expression.

‘What is it?’

‘Where is my daughter?’

‘Huh?’

‘The Princess. Where is she?’, the magistrate, also known as Prince Chanyeol’s future father in law but never fully being one since their story together ends at the wedding right before the kiss which seals their fate shut. His robes were of purple royal colour which matches the highlights hidden within his jet-black hair along with the streak of his family’s sigil displayed on his left chest, where his heart it.

The shivering sensation is once again heightened at the news of the officially missing princess, his skin crawling with goosebumps to which he turns abruptly to his servant who gave him the exact worrying look of dismay at the confirmation.

‘Your Highness, do you want me to tell one of the officers?’

‘You mean those from the portal?’, Prince Chanyeol’s face scrunch into an expression of disgust perpetuated with discriminative processed thoughts of those who jumped from the portal, with their obnoxious uniforms and alien-like weapons, ‘I don’t want them knowing anything’

‘But this is big… They need to report it to the main archive-’

‘This is our world, ours. Which means we’ll deal with it ourselves’

‘And what are you going to do?’, the magistrate disrupts their conversation, waiting patiently for the young prince to answer his distress.

‘Well, do what I always do…’, Prince Chanyeol states, turning to walk past them and back into his chambers, his hand reaching out for his sword which always rests by the end of his bed, ‘I’m going to save my princess’

 

***

 

‘Sir!’, Kyungsoo walks straight out of the portal, seeing the gatekeeper just coming back with a sandwich resting on his hand and crumbs all over the main controls.

‘Kyungsoo? What are you doing? Your shift doesn’t end until the end of the day’

‘I need to talk to the Head Office’

‘What for?’, he tilts his head in confusion as to why the usual quiet officer was frantically reaching out to him.

‘Mother Goose. Mother Goose is missing’

‘That’s absurd’, the gatekeeper laughs, biting into his sandwich and disregarding Kyungsoo’s claims, ‘Mother Goose is a lovely character and always does what she’s told. She would never go missing as soon as morning comes’

‘That’s exactly why I need to talk to Head Office’, Kyungsoo responds, ‘She wasn’t in her home and we looked around the office to see if anything could lead us to her… But we got nothing…’

‘I’m sure she’s out somewhere treading the fruits and vegetables’

‘Sir, I’m being serious! Please can you just he-’

‘Gatekeeper John’, a foreign voice interrupts them, Kyungsoo and the Gatekeeper turning their heads to see a group of men in black suits, sunglasses and earpiece on, walking past everyone else. They looked superior, almost intimidating with their monotone expression.

Kyungsoo looks towards the gatekeeper to see him stand up and bow to them.

‘What is it?’

‘Madam Velma has passed away’

‘Excuse me?’, Kyungsoo interrupts them unknowingly, his mouth speaking before his brain can even process the short but utterly shocking news, ‘What do you mean passed away? She was here no more than an hour ago!’

‘Suicide’, they answered shortly, in one word, with no emotions or condolence.

‘But she said she was going to a meeting…’

‘What meeting? There was no meeting scheduled within this week’

Kyungsoo looks at the gatekeeper to confirm the news but the gatekeeper looked just as confused as he did.

‘She did say something about a meeting’, Gatekeeper John back up Kyungsoo, but the pair of them were shut off when one of the men pushes past the gatekeeper, overpowering him to the main controls.

‘Wait… What are you doing?’, Kyungsoo asks, going back and standing beside Gatekeeper John.

‘There’s no one to supervise the Nursery Division, so in the meantime, we’ll be shutting it off’

‘What?!’, Kyungsoo is now in a frenzy of confusion and anger, his hand reaching out to stop the man from pressing the button which shuts down the portal down, ‘ Wait, wait, waits! There’s something I need to tell you’

‘Quickly, shut the portal down’, the men ignore him one more, but Kyungsoo was strong enough to push the man away and gain their attention.

‘I said I need to tell you something’

‘What is it, boy? Hurry, we have things to do’

‘Mother Goose is missing’

‘Now this seems to have sparked their attention.

‘She’s been missing to what seems to be since last night’

Kyungsoo and Gatekeeper John waits for a moment when they see the group of men murmuring to themselves, quiet but deep, their eyes can’t be seen.

‘Okay’, one of the men says aloud to them, ‘We’ve decided to keep the portal open for the sake of the investigation on the missing character, but all the stories inside will be on lock mode’

‘How are the children going to read them?’, Gatekeeper John asks in concern.

‘They can entertain themselves in some other form. We have the technology for that’

Kyungsoo didn’t like their attitude, he didn’t like their stance and their posture almost seems like they weren’t human. But for the sake of this situation and for the new investigation that he is thrust upon, he gave them a grateful bow and bites his tongue from saying anything more.

‘You are to investigate on this problem yourself. You have 48 hours-’

‘I have to investigate this by myself? How comes I don’t get a team? This is a serious case!’

‘There’s nothing serious about a missing animal’, the men snicker to themselves, ’48 hours and you come back here… If you don’t… You’ll be shut in with them for the time being’

‘You can’t do that’

‘Don’t worry. You’ll be able to leave when we reopen and rebrand the Division, which only takes a couple of days’

‘So, you’re telling me, if I fail to solve the case in two days, you’re going to lock me in the portal for days?’

‘That’s if you take the case… Are you?’

Gatekeeper holds tightly on his arm, shaking his head to tell Kyungsoo to give this one up. But there seems to be a heightened adrenaline coursing through Kyungsoo’s veins as he looks back into the portal then back at the black-suited men. Would he really want to be stuck in the world that he detests most, or will he let a golden case that if solved may gain him enough attention to speak to the Head Office about a change?

‘Two days… And if I’m not here, then I’ll stay’

There’s a smile which finally enters the men’s faces, somewhat sadistic given their eyes were still shaded with the sunglasses, blocking Kyungsoo from reading their true emotion.

‘So be it’

 

***

 

Prince Chanyeol hides from the public once his father has announced that the Princess was missing. At first, everyone was calm, following the protocols, but once the magistrate screams to them that it was real, that the princess was really missing, the outcry was intense. There were divisions already, some wanting to tell the officers from the portal, whilst the others wanting nothing to do with them.

The division has always been there when it comes to the people from the portal. Some had trusted them enough and even allowed them to stay over at their homes and converse with them about the outside world, what the people from the portal state as the real world, where anything can happen.

Prince Chanyeol snicker at the idea. A world with no sealed fate? That was impossible. Everyone has to have their sealed fate in order to play the role in a bigger story.

Instead of going around trying to calm everyone down, he hides behind the walls and escapes the main room where the meeting still commences and with silent feet, escapes to the ends of the palace, underground where the old cellar was, unused and abandoned by everyone else apart from him.

He hated the people in the portal, that’s for sure. He hated their intrusive nature, but he hated to admit that their alien weapons and technology was something he was interested in, craved for almost. He watches from afar, in the middle of the night as they enter the small portal placed deep in the centre of the forest.

His eyes have seen, so how could his hands no explore?

Every night for the past five years, he has picked up trinkets of metal, nails and other such which he collects and hides inside the abandoned cellar underground the palace. It wasn’t until last year did he have the bravery to collect some things from the portal itself, taking a few things which caused the portal to collapse and send new people in to fix it, allowing him to watch them and how they create such a thing.

It didn’t take long for the prince to get used to the technology, allowing him to create his own portable portal in the shape of a mirror his princess gave to him for as a present.

The walls are damp, and everything is dark apart from the shimmering light which flickers from his candle which he holds up, placing it in one of the candle holders placed at the centre of his work table which was also covered in countless of paper, scribbled with dozens of notes and observations made by him.

He had tried his small portal a few times, a few small successes leading him from one room of the palace to the other until he manages to go from one area of the kingdom to the other. He had never thought of trying to actually use it to leave his world to another world which he knows must exist since he’s heard a few officers talking about some kind of a Nursery Division which he didn’t know what it was, but it must be another world. Curiosity got the better of him until he found himself assembling his mirror to fit in a more complex built which may or may not allow him to leave his world.

He has never tried it nor did he want to, but his princess was missing and the princess knows this kingdom inside out, more so than he did since she has always been an adventurer, thus meaning she’s not in this world at all. That is the only reason Prince Chanyeol can think of at the moment.

He looks down at the mirror which rested beside the candle, looking down to his own reflection, seeing his face that he has seen millions of times. He had often wondered why his writer gave him two coloured hair mixed together whilst the rest of his people and even his father had the same jet-black hair. Maybe if he can go to the real world, he might ask his writer. That’s if he ever finds them.

Before his thoughts can process anything, his fingers brush upon the surface of the mirror, temptation of picking up surging through him.

 

***

 

‘Your back! Have you told Madam Velma?’, the cat chirps up the moment he sees Kyungsoo walking into the village once more, the rest of the characters also jumping up and down towards his way, excited to see him and hoping for some good news.

‘She’s gone’, Kyungsoo simple stated, not wanting to be the bearer to bad news to the characters who have only received good ones all their lives, ‘Since Mother Goose is still missing, I’ll be investigating on the case to try and find her… Until then, the Nursery Division will be closed’

A burst of outcry rings throughout the centre of the edge of the village where Kyungsoo stands, everyone hurling questions at him.

‘Guys! One cannot answer when all he hears is blubber!’, the cat in the hat shouts for everyone to be quiet, ‘One question at a time!’

‘Thanks, cat’, Kyungsoo nods at him, the cat’s lips curling up in a unique Cheshire cat smile of pleasantry.

‘So, what do we do till then?’, the fox asks him, looking slightly scared and upset which made Kyungsoo quite pitiful in the other character’s fate.

‘You guys just relax and do whatever you want. I’ll try and solve this as soon as I can, okay?’

The characters know Kyungsoo. They had a feeling that the officer didn’t like them as much as Madam Velma did, but they also knew that Officer Kyungsoo did his job and that no matter what happens he will do what he promises, so with slight hesitation and a glum atmosphere transfixed in the area, the rest of the characters return to their home without meaning, closing their doors and residing to stay inside their homes since they wouldn’t be able to relive their stories today.

‘So what are we gonna do?’, the cat asks, following Kyungsoo instead of going to his own home.

‘You follow my orders and stay inside whilst the look around the perimeter of the division to see if Mother Goose got stuck somewhere in between’

‘Mother Goose will never go over the perimeter! She’s not like that!’

‘Well, she’s not the type to go missing, but here we are now’, Kyungsoo and the cat walks side by side, passing the centre village where an old fountain rested in the shape golden egg, water the colour of iridescent pink flowing from it.

‘But what do you want me to do?’

‘Keep everyone calm, make sure no one else goes missing and…’

‘And what?’, the cat stops walking the moment they reach the other side of the village, his eyes looking worriedly at Kyungsoo when the officer turns to face him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

‘Just be a friend to everyone, okay? You can do that right?’, Kyungsoo smiles reassuringly at the cat, which softens the cat’s heightened anxiety.

‘I can be a friend…’

‘Okay good. I’ll be back soon, okay’

 

***

 

‘What the…’, Prince Chanyeol looks to his surrounding, which instantly changed the moment he touched the portal, ‘Where am I?’, he asks to no one, spinning around to see rainbow coloured leaves held up by golden branches. He holds on tight to the handle of his sword which hangs by his belt as he slips the mirror into his pockets and walks forward to the North where the sun is.

It is an odd place. A very odd place. Not a living soul can be seen roaming these areas, yet it still seems magnificent and different. Chanyeol had almost wished that some of these things existed in his kingdom. His hands touched the soft floss of the bushes which were pink in colour and his eyes valued the strong paint strokes of pure white clouds above him, the skies a mixture of purple, just like his hair.

The brilliance of this place caught him off guard to what has actually happened to him and it wasn’t until he senses another movement flickering in the bush did his senses come back to him, the feeling of the mirror resting inside his pockets which seems to have transported him into another world just like how he wished.

But which world? And why now?

Does this all lead to his princess? Is the portal controlled by his desires and wishes? If so, that means his princess must be right here, in this world.

‘Put your hands up in the air and don’t move!’

Prince Chanyeol turns around to see the inevitable.

A people from the portal, pointing one of his weapons at him.

‘I am not to be ordered by anyone-’

‘I am not afraid to shoot you right now! Now put your hands in the air and don’t move!’, his voice was fiery, intimidating despite the man’s small stature, but Chanyeol knew there was something in his eyes which told him to not fight, so in this case, the young prince slowly raises his arms up and patiently waits for the man to come forward.

‘Now, who are you and where did you take Mother Goose’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I said who are you, and where have you taken Mother Goose’

‘I can tell you who I am but I cannot tell you what a mother goose is let alone know where I have put it’

Right, that’s it’, the officer finally walks forward and grabs both of the young prince’s hands, tying it together with metal ropes that Chanyeol hadn’t seen quite yet, ‘You’re not a character here so you’re a number one suspect

‘You better get your hands off of me!’, Chanyeol demands the moment the officer pushes him forward and forces him to walk, ‘I am a prince! And I will not be handled by some low-’

‘Some low? Low what? I have a gun so you better choose your words very carefully’, the officer threatens him, resting the tip of the gun on his back as they continue to walk forward.

‘Oh… Is that what that’s called?’, Chanyeol turns around to curious look at the alien weapon again.

‘Look forward’, the officer commands, ‘You’re going to need to answer a lot of questions’

‘Questions to which I don’t know the answer to’

‘Shut up’

Without much communication and the officer’s failure to listen to the prince’s explanation, they manage to enter a rather bizarre village which Chanyeol had never seen before. If he was transfixed with the forest he was in a minute ago when he was mesmerised by the buildings and most noticeably, the living things living in said buildings.

‘What are these?’, Chanyeol whispers as he sees a fox in human clothing, inanimate objects speaking together and a very tall cat with a hat and a bow tie approaching them – no – leaping towards them.

‘You’re back already! It’s been only five minutes!’

‘I highly doubt that but yeah, it took much shorter than I expected too’, Kyungsoo smiles, mostly to himself, as he believes he holds the culprit in his hands, ‘I think he has something to do with Mother Goose’

‘For what seems about the infinite time, I have no idea what a Mother Goose is’

‘For shame!’, the cat shouts, appalled by his words, ‘Mother Goose is not a what! She is a she’

‘She? What? A goose?’, Prince Chanyeol struggles to break free from the metal ropes. The Prince was more than agitated enough, but not only then, he was furious that his strength was not enough to break the chains that he was in.

‘Right, I’m gonna quickly go and hand him in, you stay here and continue what you’re doing’

‘Ay Ay Captain!’

Before Kyungsoo and the cat can celebrate their win, the skies turn into neon red and the ground begins to shake. Kyungsoo and the cat looks at each other before turning their head to the direction of the portal to see the words Kyungsoo didn’t think he’ll ever see.

LOCKED.

‘What? They said they’ll give me two days!’, Kyungsoo swore, letting go of the prince’s hands and sprinting towards the office, in hopes that this was a mistake, in hopes that Gatekeeper John was still there ready to turn this back around and turn on the portal so he can prove himself that he’d solved the case.

He leaves the terrified characters behind, leaving the village and kicking the door to the office down, turning on the computer only to find it locked as well.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’, Kyungsoo bangs on the screens on the computer, trying to turn it on but to no avail, no human technology works as soon as the portal is locked. Kyungsoo turns off the safety mode of his gun and shoots three times at the wall, but he hears no gunshot. That’s because the bullets refuse to shoot, ‘Fucking why!’

Amidst the glooming red which forebodes the future of this village, Chanyeol hears a click before the metal ropes break free from his hands, leaving him once again a free man, a fairly angry free man. He looks up to find the cat trying to calm everyone down but that’s not who he wants right now. He breathes an angry sigh before bracing forward and following the steps of the officer who had caged him without hearing one word of an explanation. He needed his punishment, for touching royalty and he was going to give it to him.

He combs his hair back, which was growing longer, his sword ready to be pulled out at any given moment, his walks getting nearer to the building of yellow bricks to which can only be where the officer had gone to now that they were nearing the end of this world.

Kicking the door down, he didn’t think much of it when he sees the scraps of paper pinned all over the walls along with a desk with some odd technology resting on it, all he sees is the officer, sitting on the ground with his hand on his head, resting on his knees.

Chanyeol pulls out his sword and rests the tip right in front of his forehead.

‘You should’ve listened to me’, Chanyeol whispers, angered that the officer was still not giving him any attention.

‘Do you know what you’ve done?’, Kyungsoo looks up to the unfamiliar character, his eyes blotched and drenched in angry tears, ‘Because of you, I’m stuck here’

‘Our lives have just been connected now yet I have impacted you this much?’

‘What the fuck are you doing here stealing characters for? What is it that you want?’

‘Characters? I am not here to steal, I am here to retrieve my princess and go back to my world’

‘Your princess?’, Kyungsoo wipes his tears so he can look up and see the young man properly. He finally realises that what the young man was wearing wasn’t odd, it was just old like he belonged in the Tudors, ‘Are you character as well?’

‘Character? Is that what you call us? Because I’m not… I’m Prince Chanyeol of-’

‘The Phenox Kingdom’, Kyungsoo’s eyes widen when he hears the name which perks his ears and makes him realise that the man in front of him was none other than… ‘You’re Prince Chanyeol? The Prince Charming’

‘Prince Charming?’

‘And you said your princess was missing…’, Kyungsoo remembers what Chanyeol had stated to him, everything flooding in on him all at once until his brain is confused but also finally making sense, ‘Another character is missing… Which means…’

‘Another character…’, now it was Chanyeol’s turn to place everything together, replaying the conversation the officer had with the cat, ‘Did you say someone went missing today?’

‘Yes… A character from a children’s story’, Kyungsoo gets up, ‘And you said your princess is missing’

‘Yeah… Do you think it’s connected?’

‘I don’t know but…’, Kyungsoo walks past the prince and goes back to the deal computer, trying to see if he can find anything, any confirmation that might connect these two so that they may have a lead. Kyungsoo sees the computer is scratched and tarnished after he had used it as a punching back. He reaches his hand out to touch the scratched screen, the computer being slightly thicker than most computer which means…

‘What are you doing?’, Chanyeol asks when he sees Kyungsoo rolling up his sleeve and gripping tightly on the computer, pushing all of his strength until the computer is officially split in to. Chanyeol walks over to look at the device, interested in the intricate chains which interconnect with each other, ‘Woah… What is that?’

‘Ah ha!’, Kyungsoo sighs in relief when his eyes land on an object, his fingers reaching in to retrieve a USB stick hidden inside the computer, ‘I knew Madam Velma has her secret’, he whispers in celebration to himself. He wasn’t the one to prejudge character nor was he the type to snoop around, however, Madam Velma had her reasons why he would be a little suspicious, with her subtle movements and her odd messages that showed that she may be trying to hide something. He didn’t want to dwell too much into it since Madam Velma is now listed as deceased in the main office’s list.

‘What is that device?’, Prince Chanyeol murmurs behind him, his eyes curiously looking at the small rectangular object the portal person was holding.

‘Something that might help us out… If we’re in the real world’, Kyungsoo responds, looking around the office and seeing that no human technology would even bother to turn on, ‘I have to find a way to get out of here and back into the human world’

‘Just use your portal’

‘It’s shut down… In this Division anyway’, Prince Chanyeol looks confused. He’s never heard of a portal shutting down unless it has anything to do with him dismantling it, but never shut down on its own.

‘Is it broken?’

‘No. The Chartam Officials has shut it down even though they told me they wouldn’t for the next 48 hours’, there’s a pang of bitterness in Kyungsoo’s voice as he says this, gripping the USB tightly before placing it on the inside pockets of his uniform, stomping out of the office without a plan on how to get back home.

His mind is already boiling with anger at the promise the Chartam Officials broken and it baffled him why they would do such a thing. He was on their side in the first place. He wanted the case solved as fast as he could so they can go to the next step in informing the public that the Nursery Division was in the process of rebranding, but why did they throw him under the bus and lock him up in hell.

‘I suppose your in charge of finding your missing goose’, Kyungsoo hears the voice of Prince Chanyeol, much deeper than he had thought in his own head when he had read the fairy-tale when he was a young boy, but he had learnt that not all characters were the exact spitting image he had imagined, he’d learnt that when he’d met Count Dracula who happened to be the same ethnicity as him of all things.

‘What is it to you’

‘Well, my princess is missing’

‘That’s right…’, Kyungsoo stops in his tracks, ‘Princess Summer is gone too…’

‘You know her name?’

‘Yes, I used to read your story when I was a child’, Kyungsoo explains, ‘You were always my favourite character’

‘Oh, why thank you very much’, it’s not like this is the time or place for this, but Chanyeol couldn’t help but break into a smile, ‘I am quite the man, aren’t I’

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Yes, not all characters are like what he had imagined.

‘Look, I’d like to sit and chat with you, but I have somewhere I need to be’

‘Yes. About that… I think I have a plan to get us both out of here and into the human world’, Chanyeol points out, his hand gripping on Kyungsoo’s arm to stop the small officer from walking away from him further.

‘I highly doubt that’

‘Listen to me. Don’t you wanna know how I got here? In a different world from mine?’, this did perk up Kyungsoo’s interest, his body straightening and eyes paying close attention at the tall Prince.

‘Go on’

Chanyeol finally pulls out the small mirror hidden inside his pockets, showing it to Kyungsoo who looks down on it with disinterest.

‘Please tell me you’re not showing me a magical mirror or some shit like that’

‘What? This is the least magical object I have in possession’, Chanyeol explains, ‘This mirror is rearranged with your people’s technology’

‘What?’

‘The portal’s metal ropes and iron surfaces… It’s all inside here’, Chanyeol explains, turning it around the back for Kyungsoo to see the bulky wires interconnecting together, uniquely placed there and for a second it did look like something Kyungsoo would’ve made during his middle school science fair.

‘You made that?’, the small official is surprised more than intrigued now. His eyes look back up to the prince, seeing the old century clothes and his sword resting by his leather buckle, ‘You can't have engineered this, that’s… Not in your character… You’re a sword fighter and a-

‘A bloody good observer’, Chanyeol interrupts, ‘You’ve read my story, you know exactly how I defeated the dragon’

‘Knowing how to think on your feet and knowing how to build a computer is two very different thing’

‘What’s a computer?’

‘Ergh, nothing… It’s just… I don’t think your mirror is going to get us anywhere’

‘That’s exactly what it’s made for. I recreated everything that was in that portal device and it’s worked so far’

‘That is not a portal’, Kyungsoo snorts, the two of them pacing back towards the village via the candy road, seeing the characters still in the middle of the village, standing around and looking terrified, waiting for someone to explain to them everything that has happened – which Kyungsoo realised is supposed to be his job – and he didn’t like the idea of breaking all these character’s hearts.

‘Kyungsoo!’, the cat sees him and his eyes flashes in delight, ‘Help me! I don’t know how to keep everyone calm!’

‘Alright, I’ve got this’, Kyungsoo lets the cat squeeze the living daylight out of him when he jumped into his arms, He reckons he could give him that now that everything has come to shit, ‘I’ll go say something to them’, he whispers before softly pushing the cat off him and walking towards the middle of the centre, everyone silence and waiting, all eyes on him. The nerves didn’t kick in until he sees the group of ducklings huddled in front of him, their eyes looking so lost yet still innocent.

‘The world is dim and the skies are glum. I don’t wanna cry so I think I’ll have a plum’

‘What?’ Prince Chanyeol turns to the cat who leans onto him and hides his head on his shoulder in distress. One minute the cat with a hat is ready to bind him under the command of the officer but now he’s holding on for his dear life. Had this happened in his own kingdom, where he knows everyone and everything, he would’ve asked the royal guards to send him away, but now with everything, looking forward to see a village of small creatures wrapped around in bright colours, yet their eyes are dark and gloomy, he thought a shoulder to lean on is the least they could do.

His princess is gone. A character from this world is gone. This cannot be a coincidence, his instincts won’t allow him to just brush it off. It seems as though fate has something in store for them and he needs to find out what it is.

‘You’, he looks down on the glum cat, ‘You’re his friend right?’

‘Kyungsoo?’ the cat stares at the Prince’s pointed fingers and nod, ‘He’s my bestest friend’

‘Well, you need to tell him to hold off the speech now. I need to talk to him’, Prince Chanyeol is already on the move and without many options, and the cat had no choice but to follows him, pulling at Kyungsoo’s arms before he can carry on speaking.

‘I’ll handle this’, the car whispers to Kyungsoo, ‘They like me more than you’

Kyungsoo, upon any other situation, would’ve scorned the cat, but thankfully he was too grateful to be mad at him.

‘Go talk to the strange man. I think he has something important to say’

‘I highly doubt some prince from a fairy tale has anything prominent to say about this situation’, Kyungsoo complains but the cat urges him on, leaving him to comfort the rest of his fellow villagers. Kyungsoo felt guilty, but he was glad to be walking away from the crowd and towards the edge of an alleyway just past the market where Prince Chanyeol was leaning on the wall waiting for him.

‘I don’t know how you got here or what you want, but I don’t need to hear anymore-’

‘You help me find my princess and I’ll help you get out of here and into the real world’, Prince Chanyeol had always been a blunt character, he’d blame his creator for that, but he’s been cutting this officer too much slack, much more than what he would usually give and he needs to be in control again, ‘This mirror is a recreation of the portal and it leads you to different worlds, that’s how I got here, now… You either stay here and rotor follow me and help me solve whatever led us here in this situation together’

Kyungsoo could’ve sworn he’d seen a bit of his childhood flash in front of him, in the form of a tall prince and his deep voice, dark undertone of seriousness but a soft hint of hope as well. To meet someone he’d already known when he was a child is odd enough, but to see his very mannerism coming to life right in front of him was more breath-taking than he’d like to take on.

But he doesn’t have the time nor the privilege to even sink into the moment. His mind drags onto the thought of the cat, although brazen and hyperactive is left to handle the crowd’s misfortunes and disarray of complains whilst he’s stuck here. Holding the answers in his hands but not being able to open it, like a caged bird looking out but finding no way of escape.

He breathes in Chanyeol’s words again, thinking deeply about it. And he realised, he doesn’t have much to lose anyway. His officers clearly showed no signs of belief in him, locking him up without any form of explanation and against protocol.

‘If that thing isn’t a portal then I’m going to burn all your books, you got that?’ Kyungsoo points a warning finger at the tall prince in front of him.

‘Fate will not let that be’

‘Oh, shut up with your fairy tale talk. We’ve got a case to break’

 

***

 

Kyungsoo and Prince Chanyeol are back to square one, stood by the edges of the village inside the rainbow forest. After explaining the situation to the cat, he hugged the character goodbye and left the village under his hands. God knows the cat irritated the shit out of him, but he couldn’t help but appreciate him for taking over something out of his comfort zone. He felt slightly guilty for leaving him behind but if the Division has even a speck of chance of reopening, he would take it.

‘This portal. Can we choose which Division we go to?’, Kyungsoo asks, looking down at the small and rather simplistic device.

‘No. I didn’t choose to come here’

‘Great. So who fucking knows where we’re going to end up in’, Kyungsoo sighs, but he’s come this far and his mind is slowing losing logic and self-control so he the small USB inside his back pockets and closes his eyes.

Madam Velma was hiding something before she died. And he needs to know if this has anything to do with it.

‘Go on then’, he says, waiting for the Prince to do whatever he had to do. What he didn’t expect it for the Prince to grab his hand, holding it between his and placing it on the surface of the looking glass, ‘What are you doing?’

‘I don’t know how this works, but last time, I was sure I touched it and it just led me here’

‘Led you here? No buttons? No coordinates? That doesn’t seem very-’

The two figures who once stood by the edges of the rainbow forest were now gone, all that’s left are the traces of leaves which flew around where they were due to the immense winds which shook from the ground.

 

***

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes flash open to where he can see. After being submerged into total darkness along with a static silence which pierced through his head, something he’s never felt nor wanted to ever feel again.

‘What the fuck?’, he turns to glare at Prince Chanyeol, ‘What was that?’

‘You’ve travelled through portals before, I’m sure you’re used to the feeling’

‘What feeling? That felt like I was being sucked out of reality!’

‘Isn’t that what a portal is?’

Tou-fucking-ché, your highness.

‘Whatever. We need to get a move on and found out where your shitty mirror led us’, Kyungsoo immerses himself in looking around the area to which they had been transported in, his eyes entangling to the walls which closed upon them, imitating that of a human building.

‘I may not be of your world, but some of your vocabularies baffle me’, Prince Chanyeol jogs ahead to stand beside Kyungsoo, placing his mirror inside his pockets, ‘Like shit. What is shit?’

‘No time to explain, we need to know which Division we’re in’, Kyungsoo ignores Chanyeol’s sudden merges of questions to him. He should’ve known that Prince Chanyeol was going to be annoyingly curious. His character has always been like that. He used to admire how to determine and motivated the prince was, but now it’s just plain annoying.

Kyungsoo finds that they are inside a small space with no furniture, no pictures, not nothing. Just an empty room with four walls.

He looks down on his Chartam watch, gazing at the time of the human world compared to the time of whatever Division they were stuck in. Time only works in each Division as it should be in the stories that they’re submerged in, and Kyungsoo had a feeling that they had landed straight into a story.

_Human World: 13.41_

_Division 26.99: 13.41_

‘Oh. We’re not in a story’, Kyungsoo is alarmed yet a wave of relief rushes through him, ‘So where the hell are we?’, he whispers to himself, trying to look for a door, but yet again, nothing but walls.

‘What room doesn’t have a door?’, Chanyeol also starts to worry about their predicament, his eyes looking around for a speck of something that might help them.

‘This is probably a trap room, I’ve read mystery books about this… We’re probably in the Thriller Division’

‘Thriller? What is Thriller?’

‘It’s a collection of stories which focuses on suspense, death and murders’

‘How enticing. And their creators like putting their characters through this much anguish?’, Chanyeol’s expression turns hollow, a hint of disgust plastered in his eyes, ‘What is it like to be human, thinking with minds like that’

‘Well, freedom of speech is as powerful as the sword in your hands’

A small creak, the only sound to which the room had made since their arrival, made both their heads turn to the direction of a small creak in a wall, an opening wall to which a figure enters the area.

‘Who are you?’

Shellshock, Kyungsoo’s body freezes completely, his eyes quivering as he sees the thin and lean body, but the figure of the man didn’t hold him down, it was what the figure was wearing, his washed-out blue jumpsuit, smothered in blood, dried and painted all over him with the number and named stitched by the left side of his chest.

‘Fuck’, Kyungsoo hears himself whisper, Prince Chanyeol resting his hand on the buckle of his sword, sensing Kyungsoo’s sudden discomfort upon the notice of a new figure in their presence.

‘Who are you?’, Prince Chanyeol’s voice is raw and confident, brave compared to Kyungsoo who was a quivering mess. But Kyungsoo knew what they were dealing with, Chanyeol didn’t.

The figure smiles at them, his eyes hooded dark and his hands still painted red.

 ‘Hello. I’m Hannibal Lecter’

‘You sent us to the fucking Horror Division?’, Kyungsoo finally felt a little control over his body and swiftly turns to Chanyeol.

‘What is a Horror Division?’

‘How did you end up here? This is my secret lair, away from the rest of the Division’

‘Fuck me, we landed straight into his trap room’, Kyungsoo looks down and tries not to have a panic attack, ‘We’re going to be mutilated and eaten because of you’

Prince Chanyeol, who had no idea what the officer was talking about, holds onto his sword, about to use it when the figure runs towards them, Kyungsoo making an ungodly sound as he tries to run away from the cannibal killer and towards the small secret door which was still wide open.

‘It’s so nice to meet you!’

What?

Kyungsoo turns around when he hears the most soft-spoken voice he’s heard, turning to see Hannibal Lecter – yes, the Hannibal Lecter – hugging Chanyeol, squeezing him tightly. Hannibal was shorter than the prince, much thinner in comparison too, his hair long and his eyes slanted up, like a piercing cat, but when he smiles, his eyes form into crescent-like shapes.

What is going on?

‘I’ve never had someone come up here! This is so exciting!’, Chanyeol looks down at the hugging man and backs up at Kyungsoo, giving him a chuckling judgmental look.

‘You’re scared of him?’, he asks, laughing as he pats the man’s shoulder.

‘He’s a serial killer who eats people! This could be a trap!’, Kyungsoo defends himself, but this made Hannibal Lecter turn around, his eyes piercing into him, making him take a step back.

‘I see, you’ve read my story’, he points out, his voice lathered in the scary tone Kyungsoo had imagined in his head when he read ‘The Silence of the Lamb’. Hannibal slowly approaches him, the aura of that a sly predator coming towards him, each step taking longer than the other.

The dripping of water from the ceiling, probably from the rain in which heavily sets the only noise to come between Kyungsoo and Hannibal, his eyes ever so piercing, so terrifying in its nature. He felt like a small mouse being preyed on by a cat.

‘I… I – 'm…’, Kyungsoo is left in a stuttering mess, beads of sweat which threatens to escape his skin, his eyes looking down or up or anywhere near the face that was coming towards him, slim in figure, sharp jaws and long neck, thin yet muscular arms which could probably wrap itself around his neck and break it in one go.

‘I have one question for you’, his voice turns deeper every second, his question not being one to miss or to ignore.

‘Wha – What… What is it?’, Kyungsoo continues to stutter.

‘Am I as handsome?’

What?

‘What?’, Kyungsoo did a double take for the second time, seeing the piercing eyes turn soft as Hannibal’s expression loosens into a grin.

‘C’mon, do you think I’m sexy?’

‘You… You eat people’, Kyungsoo points out, not really knowing if Hannibal was serious in question or if this was one of his mind tricks. To be honest, Kyungsoo only read the book once a long time ago and he gets confused between what happened in the book and in the movie, so god knows.

‘Yeah, but you can’t blame me, my creator made me like the taste of human flesh’, Hannibal is now more soft-spoken than most of the characters Kyungsoo had taken care of in the Nursery Division and to him, this is just a massive mind fuck at the moment.

‘Why would your creator make you want to eat your own kind?’, Prince Chanyeol walks over to them, ‘You look adorable’

‘Prince Charming calling Hannibal Lecter adorable… Now I’ve heard everything’, Kyungsoo says to himself, still in a shellshock state but slowly recuperating.

‘I know I’m adorable’. Hannibal smiles at the prince as he moves along the empty room. It was only in his sudden movements that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol both find out that the walls were pretty much-hiding everything. With one tap, Hannibal opens hidden draws which hold a table with sets of chairs, a vase encasing flowers of roses and baby’s breath, a hidden shelf of books and another of plates and other cutleries.

‘You have a hidden fridge?’, Kyungsoo asks, the number of questions and uncertainty growing when Hannibal creates a homey atmosphere to was a room of four walls.

‘This is my small space away from everyone in the Division’, Hannibal sighs, setting up the chairs, ‘It’s so depressing having to half lunch with IT all the time’

‘You have lunch with IT?’

‘Who’s IT?’

‘A monster jester who kills people’, Kyungsoo fills the Prince into which Chanyeol continues to look baffled.

‘The human mind grows weirder the more I step foot in it’, Chanyeol whispers to himself. Kyungsoo tries not to chuckle at the way Chanyeol scrunches his nose whenever he was confused and out of his comfort zone, holding dear tightly to his sword. He observes the way his chained shield around his upper body was drastically dragging him down along with his tough leather shoes which he can only imagine was excruciating to walk in. He didn’t think much of the Prince’s until now, but the feeling of something inside his pocket brings him back to reality and to why they were here in the first place.

‘Look, Mr Lecter-’

‘Mr Lecter?’, Hannibal squeaks at the sound of his name, ‘No one has ever called me Mister before’

‘Right…’, Kyungsoo nods and smiles uncomfortably at the way Hannibal was stroking his arm, ‘Anyway… I need you to answer a few questions’

‘Anything for you darling! You’ve read my story and you think I’m a mister!’

‘Mr Lecter, have you yourself experience any missing characters in your story or in other stories in your Division?’, now it was Prince Chanyeol to look oddly at Kyungsoo. The man, despite his physical actions, seems to also have a way with words. His precisions in his questions almost led him to think that he could be a good magistrate had he lived in his kingdom and in his world. He has the same poise that of his princess, one to which he would admire for centuries. His mind flickered back to his princess, her selfless smile and bright eyes. He always thought had their story continues, she would make a wonderful Queen. It was such a shame that she was trapped as nothing more than an endangered princess when he knew she was more than capable of climbing out of that tower herself.

He can see a bit of the princess’ soul in Kyungsoo.

‘A missing character? That’s crazy? How is a story supposed to come alive without its characters?’, Hannibal sounds appalled, relentless in the sudden information that Kyungsoo was giving, standing up to open another hidden drawer, this time, picking up a container of food, ‘Want some?’

Kyungsoo was about to throw up, his mind quickly thinking of mutilated fingers and eyeballs, but he looks down and all he sees are green.

‘I’m trying to be vegan’

‘I don’t think that’ll be possible’, Kyungsoo observes the way Hannibal attempts to chew and enjoy the salad, ‘You’re a psychopath. I highly doubt-’

‘Missing character!’, Hannibal screams all of a sudden, slamming his fisted hand on the table, ‘Wait… I think I heard someone talking about this…’

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol near him, their ears open and waiting for him to continue talking.

‘I wasn’t paying too much attention, but I heard a few staffs talking about a minor character disappearing in ‘The Haunting of Hill House’. I think they ran away because they wanted a bigger role in the story’

‘Wanted a bigger role?’, Kyungsoo whispers, yet Chanyeol wasn’t catching on.

‘That’s an awful reasoning’

‘But maybe…’, Kyungsoo didn’t want to think about Mother Goose as a selfish character when all she’s ever been is the mother figure that her creator has set her out to be. But after witnessing a vegan cannibal, maybe there’s a juxtaposition between a character’s story personality and their real self, like a performer acting on stage. Once the curtain closes, their real soul comes out.

Does Mother Goose have any other alternative?

‘Maybe what?’, Chanyeol interrupts his trains of throughs, his hand once again gripping on his arm.

‘I’ve heard of some characters being discontent with their stories. What if there’s an uprising?’

‘Are you saying my princess wants to be part of something stupid like an uprising?’, Chanyeol looks down on him with the same judging expression that Kyungsoo had slowly started to get used to.

‘It’s a possibility…’, Kyungsoo stays with his instincts.

‘My princess is not like that’

‘Who knows who you really are behind closed curtains’, Kyungsoo pulls his arm out of Chanyeol’s hold, the pair glaring at each other in tensed silence.

Hannibal whistles in the corner, chewing and spitting out his salad as he looks between the two people.

‘The tension is awkward here’

‘Shut up Hannibal’, Kyungsoo turns to glare at the serial killer too, Hannibal raising his hand up and continuing to eat his disgusting salad.

‘You know, you really don’t think I’m capable of being real, aren’t you?’, Prince Chanyeol takes into account Kyungsoo’s quick dismissal of him or his words, his eyes and thought to continue to believe that these missing characters were somehow linked to the growing discontent of minor characters, ‘The Princess plays the most damn important role in my story and she is not going to ruin that for me or for anyone in the kingdom all because she wants more time’

‘She’s the main character locked up in a tower and doesn’t show up until the last chapter where she’s shown as a damsel in distress. Who wouldn’t be discontent with that?’, Kyungsoo argues his case, albeit not being a woman, he’d seen his fair share of half-ass female representation in books and films for over centuries.

Chanyeol pauses, stomped in thinking something he hadn’t thought of for a long time, bringing him back to the memories of his time with the princess, behind hidden doors and unopened windows.

 

***

 

_‘Do you think I’m capable of saving myself?’, the princess whispers as they sit beside each other on the prince’s balcony, looking up at the stars above them._

_‘You’re more than capable of doing anything’, Chanyeol chuckles at the absurdity of the princess’ thoughts. Despite spending their stories far apart, they did grow up with each other, sharing the burden of their title even from a young age._

_‘But I’m always stuck in that stupid tower, looking out into the distant night sky and waiting’_

_‘You’re waiting for me’_

_‘But why? Why can’t I just walk out of the tower and meet you in the middle’, the princess sighs, drinking a cup of ale she stole from the kitchen, ‘Why can’t I fight to find you just as much as you fight to find me?’_

_‘That’s just the way our creator made us. One who waits whilst the other who runs’, Chanyeol didn’t know what else to say to her. He couldn’t relate since he was infiltrated with the need to act, thus waiting was not a virtue he possesses._

_‘After every kiss, every wedding and all this pining… Why didn’t we fall in love?’_

_‘You’re asking why we don’t feel the way we should?’, Chanyeol had always heard the princess ask the same question every time they head of to spend some time alone after their brief wedding, the princess still in her elegant white gown, her hair embraided with diamonds and gold._

_‘Shouldn’t we love each other by now?’_

_‘We do. I love you and you love me. We grew up together and there’s no changing that. We just… Do not-’_

_‘God, I’d love to see the day you fall in love’, the princess giggles, the consequences of drinking cheap ale getting to her, cheeks burning red._

_‘I am capable of falling in love’_

_‘The closest thing you’d ever fallen in love with are those magic science that the human people keep on making’, this brings Chanyeol to freeze for a moment, looking at the princess in half wonder and half fright._

_‘How did you…’_

_‘I spend all my day trapped inside a tower. Don’t think I don’t know where to look’, the princess smiles at him. Chanyeol, despite knowing he shouldn’t lay his hands on the human’s objects, didn’t feel any shame nor worry upon the knowledge that the princess knows what he’s up to._

_‘It’s interesting… To say the least’, Chanyeol’s attempt to defend himself nonchalantly came as an amusement to the princess._

_‘Why can’t you just say you’re interested in them?’_

_‘Because I’m not’_

_‘You know, you’ve always been the curious type. No wonder you’re the main character’_

_‘You’re also one’, the prince turns to her and grabs her half-empty cup of ale, sharing a drink between the two as a shooting star glimmer above them._

_‘If I am, then why don’t I even have a name?’_

 

***

 

‘Tell me, your highness. Did the princess ever felt discontent?’, Kyungsoo’s voice brings him back to the reality, his feet standing in shining wood and white walls.

‘I… Don’t know’, Chanyeol answers, not willing to share such intimate information to a stranger, ‘She had her ups and downs, but so did everyone’

‘How about you?’, Kyungsoo turns to Hannibal, who was busy watching the two interact.

‘Huh?’

‘If you find out a group of characters were coming together to start a rise, would you join them?’, Kyungsoo asks once more, his confidence slowly coming back. The more he stayed in this room, the more he didn’t need to fear the man. He didn’t even look the same as Anthony Hopkins, but then again, he should know better. He was younger, more adorable yet manly looking at the same time.

‘I wouldn’t start a coup but… I mean… It would be nice to talk to my creator, wouldn’t it?’, Hannibal murmurs the last bit, a hinted tone of wishful thinking.

Kyungsoo once again stares at the two characters in front of them. They’re different from the words etched on the books that he would read during late night shifts and slow car journeys. It seems wasteful to even think that they were capable of living up to the expectations he’s always had for them in his mind.

‘But I think I know one character who might…’

‘Might join a coup?’

‘Yeah’

‘Who?’

‘Count Dracula’

 

***

 

Hannibal allowed Kyungsoo to borrow some clothes he had collected from his victims, folded and pressed perfectly in one of his draws. Kyungsoo was hesitant, slightly disturbed that Hannibal would keep their clothes and clean it precisely instead of giving them back.

‘What are those material?’, Prince Chanyeol asks as his fingers touch the rough denim jeans that were handed to Kyungsoo. The officer looks up and down at the prince and sees how impractical the clothes on the prince’s back were.

‘Hey, Mr Lecter, do you mind throwing in some more clothes for him’, Kyungsoo points at Chanyeol and at Kyungsoo’s request, Hannibal opens another draw with another pile of perfectly folded clothes.

‘I think I recently killed someone of his size’, Hannibal cheers, pulling out jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket, ‘I remember ripping his arms out during his date with a girl who I also butchered’

‘Great…’, Kyungsoo smiles uncomfortably, trying hard not to listen to Hannibal’s detailed story.

‘I’m not wearing a dead man’s clothes’

‘Your Highness, you’re going to regret walking around with all of that’, Kyungsoo points to the chained shield, the heavy leather belt and the muddy pants and overlay shirt which obviously looks, even more, heavier to wear, ‘And plus, we’ll be going outside the main Division and meeting other characters. What we don’t need is to stick out like a sore thumb’, Kyungsoo continues to persuade the prince.

Chanyeol was hesitant of course, but his hands reach out for the soft shirt, looking down to find some art printed on it, though he didn’t know what it was.

‘The guy I killed was a big ACDC fan’, Hannibal whispers to him as he notices the young prince looking down at the shirt.

‘Are you getting changed or not?’, Kyungsoo asks, taking off his uniform and tank top, revealing his upper torso which did not match his soft face. His muscles were tone and defined, much similar to the knights in training at Chanyeol’s kingdom. The young prince didn’t look for more than five seconds but he still had to admire the officer’s fit body to which Hannibal looked at him with a secret smirk on his face.

 

***

 

‘This is slightly uncomfortable’, Chanyeol whines to Kyungsoo, the pair walking out of the mental asylum that Hannibal lives in, being passed by other characters who didn’t give them any looks, with Kyungsoo wearing a simple hood and jeans.

‘You’ll get used to it’, Kyungsoo points out, watching as Chanyeol tries to walks comfortably in skinny jeans for the first time, laughing when he sees the Prince attempt to adjust the jeans. Out of all things Hannibal could’ve given the prince, he didn’t have to give him James Dean in one outfit, the leather jacket suiting him almost perfectly, his loose shirt showing his collarbone.

‘What are these?’, the young prince pulls out something which rested inside the pockets of the leather jacket.

‘Those are sunglasses you were to block the sun from your eyes’, Kyungsoo explains, grabbing hold of it and standing in front of the prince, ‘You wear it like this’, he states before tiptoeing a little and placing the sunglasses by Chanyeol’s eyes, the young prince taking a step back as he sees a landscape of shaded view.

‘Woah… I don’t have to squint at the sun whilst I look up?’, Chanyeol revels in the new discovery of such a much-needed device since he was sure he’d injured his visions from all those long summer journeys.

‘It helps’, Kyungsoo shrugs, being used to everyday objects, but something about seeing the young prince admire something as small as sunglasses made him chuckle for a bit.

The pair continue to walk down the Division, seeing different haunted houses and other buildings that alluded to something dark and foreboding, yet the sun was still up and the afternoon was shining yellow.

‘I didn’t think the Horror Division would be this…’, a group of children playing by the neighbourhood pass them, chasing each other and sharing a laugh, ‘Playful’

‘What is Horror?’

‘Death, demons and insanity’

‘That’s probably why this world is like this’, Chanyeol comments, seeing a couple past them, holding hands and walking their dog together.

‘Why?’

‘Because they live their life having to see the worst of themselves. Once you face your demons every day, it gives you more determination to change and lead a better life’

Odd. Kyungsoo didn’t understand it, but he did. It was odd, conflicting even.

‘Maybe…’, Kyungsoo whispers to himself, reflecting on the Prince’s words.

‘So, who’s Count Dracula by the way?’

‘Oh. Probably the King of Horror’, Kyungsoo informs the young prince, ‘One of the originals in his genre’

‘So, he’s also of Royalty?’

‘You can say that’

‘Then why did you make me wear such peasantry clothing?’

‘They’re not peasant clothing. I for one think you look cool’, Kyungsoo pushes Chanyeol off him as they turn another corner, Kyungsoo looking down at the piece of paper with an address written on it.

‘What is cool? And why do I look cool?’

‘Never mind’, Kyungsoo turns another corner to which he is invited to face a graveyard with an old England church, rotting away in the corner, ‘Please tell me he doesn’t actually live in a church’, Kyungsoo sighs, looking out to the misty horizon, the dark skies enveloping the old crumbling building.

‘Now this looks gloomy’, Chanyeol whispers right in Kyungsoo’s ear, which the officer did not expect, so he took a giant step back away from the prince, his hands in a fist.

‘Please don’t keep standing so close next to me’, Kyungsoo clutches his hand on his chest, breathing heavily when he hears the sound of lightning piercing through the skies.

‘Who is this Count Dracula and why does he have his own small kingdom to himself?’

‘Like I said. He’s practically the father of horror’, Kyungsoo explains to the young prince again, moving forward and taking the first step inside the graveyard, ‘Now come one. The sooner we question him, the sooner we might actually get somewhere with this’

‘You really think the characters are staring a coup?’

‘Anything is possible’

‘Well, why would someone like the Father of Horror want to start a change? It oddly looks like he might be living his own version of a best life’

‘Characters are starting to stray from their initial written personalities. The discontent starts to happen the more self-aware the characters become. Count Dracula is at most a few centuries old, he has a lot of time to start feeling something’

‘Centuries?’, Chanyeol looks ahead at the crooked path, broke and tun down, the gravestones damp and covered in leaves and wrapped around in the fog, ‘He’s just as old as me’

‘You’re older by a couple of years’, Kyungsoo points out, ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales was published in 1823 and Bram Stroker’s Dacula was released in 1897’

‘You’re very knowledgeable in your stories’, Chanyeol raises his brows up at Kyungsoo. The officer didn’t have time to entertain Chanyeol, his eyes looking forward, trying not to get creeped out by the atmosphere. He hears howling in the distance and he can feel his heart racing. He had never been the type of person to enjoy reading or watching anything scary. Violence, gore and murder he could do, but eerie, dark and demonic atmosphere? No thanks. Not his cup of tea.

‘Fuck!’, Kyungsoo jumps up when he hears rustling by the bushes next to him. Prince Chanyeol didn’t say much, didn’t even laugh since he felt Kyungsoo’s hand reaching out for his arm for the first time. He felt it shake.

‘You do know nothing will kill you here, right?’, Chanyeol tells him, walking closer to Kyungsoo and letting his arm swing towards the officer for him to grab hold onto.

‘I know, but look at this place’, Kyungsoo whines, ‘God, he just had to be fucking extra with where he lives’

‘Is he human too? Or… Supposed to be?’

‘No, he’s supposed to be a blood-sucking vampire who eats people’

‘What is it with you and human eating monsters?’, Chanyeol tuts again. It didn’t take long for the two of them to come face to face of an old church, it’s glasses which once shined in rainbow colours now broken and threaded with dust and dirt. The bricks were old and rotting, grey against the dark skies and rotting brown leaves which covers the ground.

Upon walking up the steps of the church, he sees the front gate, as wide and tall as the small building, slightly ajar.

‘Hello?’, his voice echoes, hollow as it hugs the empty space of the church. Prince Chanyeol took the initiative to open the door and lead the way this time, feeling Kyungsoo’s hand continuing to grip tightly on him.

‘Count Dracula? We have come to visit’, Chanyeol calls out, his voice heavy and deep, echoing once again. Their eyes lead to the cobwebs which fill every corner of the room, the darkness leaving their eyes to adjust, their feet trying to avoid the broken tables and –

 

_Tonight, looking at the_

_The moon that is so melancholic,_

_Just like me, you’re lonely,_

_Living with an empty heart_

 

They hear a voice, so vivid and soft, it felt like velvet touching your skin. The soft tuning of a piano which accompanies it sends both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol ins a trance, their eyes looking around for the source of such harmonic beauty.

His skin was pale, almost translucent under the moonlight which hits him from above a broken roof. He sits at the centre of the stage, his black cloak so elegantly falling behind his back, his white sleeves rolled up as his fingers danced around the keys of the old grand piano, black and also rotting. His hair was of silver, kissed by the moonlight, his eyes glowing red, kissed by fire. His slender fingers continue to play whilst his voice sings about an empty heart.

‘Count Dracula?’

His fingers stop playing, mid-motion, whilst his eyes slowly turn to gaze at the two people standing in front of him.

‘And who are you?’, there’s a growl hidden in his throat, his lips quivering, bearing his fangs open for Kyungsoo to turn back and hide behind Chanyeol.

‘We need to talk to you’

‘I am in no need for useless words’, the vampire stands, his cloak, which was covered in dust, flew around him.

‘Um… Mr Dracula’

‘Count Dracula’, the vampire growls, ‘I am more a man then God had intended’

‘What’s with his choice of words?’, Chanyeol whispers to Kyungsoo, ‘Look, Count Dracula, I’m older than you and even I don’t speak like that anymore’, the vampire looks at the prince who was in leather jackets and denim jeans.

‘So you have succumbed in the dark offers of a human’, the vampire chuckles to himself, ‘You’re not the only one’

‘Count Dracula are you discontent’, Kyungsoo finally throws in the question, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore, especially since he doesn’t want to be here any longer.

‘Discontent?’

‘Are you not happy with the way things are? With human boxing you up in stories and divisions and treating you as less than them?’, Kyungsoo’s sharp tongue seemed to have opened up a small wound since the vampire transports himself right in front of Kyungsoo, their eyes meeting, faces only inches apart.

‘And how about you?’, Dracula pushes Kyungsoo towards the wall hard, his fingers wrapped around his neck, constricting the officer of his breathe, ‘How does it feel to live on every second whilst your heart is punctured every single day, to feel your skin burn and wither into dust and ashes, whilst your soul is dragged into the pits of hell and your blood painted over the knife which is held by the person who you love most truly?’, Dracula continues to choke Kyungsoo, the officer clawing at his hands, but nothing happens, the vampire doesn’t move and Kyungsoo quickly turns blue.

‘Hey, hey. Don’t touch him’, Prince Chanyeol runs up to them, trying to push Dracula off Kyungsoo, feeling ice touch his skin when he grabs hold of the vampire’s bare arm, ‘Hey!’, Chanyeol kicks the vampire in the leg and uses the opportunity to grab hold of Kyungsoo and pull him behind, ‘He only wanted to ask a question’

‘And his question is answered!’

Chanyeol feels Kyungsoo collapsing on the ground, heaving heavily. The young prince bends down and holds onto Kyungsoo tightly, glaring up at the beast.

‘So, you go around killing people for it? Starting a revolution which will only end in red?’

‘My creator made me this way. It is only fitting to cater for it’

‘Then why do you want to start a revolution?’

‘What revolution? All I want is a peaceful end’

‘You want to kill everyone? Is that it?’, Chanyeol gasps, ‘You sick monster! Are you the one who’s been kidnapping the other characters?’

Kyungsoo, despite his mind being in a haze, looks up to see a blurred vision of the vampire, his fangs out and his eyes bloodshot red. He looked beautiful, yet he looked dead. He also sees a small flashing light coming out of the vampire’s pockets, a chain which glimmers when the faintest of light hits it. Whilst the prince rambles on accusations towards the vampire, Kyungsoo crawls out of Chanyeol’s arms, his arms outstretched as he reaches for the chain hanging loosely out of the vampire’s pockets.

‘What are you doing?!’, Dracula screeches when he hears metal clatter to the floor, looking down to see the small metal crucifix landing on the rotting ground. Kyungsoo sees the way Dracula hurried, grabbing hold of the chains and seeing his skin burn upon touching it before wrapping it inside and cloth and slipping it inside his pockets once more.

‘Why would you have a crucifix?’, Kyungsoo asks, looking up and once again noticing. Dracula doesn’t look dead. He looks like he's dying, ‘Why are you slowly torturing yourself? You can’t die, so what’s the point of trying to kill yourself?’

‘I have no soul’

‘But you’re alive’

‘I am alive, but I am not’

‘Count Dracula, answer me’, Kyungsoo stands up, his hands still shaking from the previous event, ‘Why are you doing this’

The vampire’s eyes slowly turn sour, his pained expression formed through his quivering lips and lowering brows.

‘I am in love’

‘In love?’

‘He cannot love me, for his will and fate is to kill me’

‘Is that supposed to be part of your story? A forbidden love?’, Chanyeol asks, but Kyungsoo shakes his head. Count Dracula doesn’t love. So, who could he possibly be in love with?

‘Van Helsing’, Kyungsoo whispers, the name shaking Dracula to the core, his eyes flashing in sorrow and surprise at the mention of his unrequited love’s name, ‘You’re in love with Van Helsing?’

‘Who is that?’, Chanyeol asks, but his question is ignored. Kyungsoo is pacing back and forth, shaking his head and murmuring to himself.

This doesn’t make sense.

‘A person who was created for destruction destroys himself for love. A Mother who holds everything dear to her abandons her village, a cannibal who eats salad, a princess who waits runs away… This doesn’t make sense’

‘What doesn’t make sense?’, Kyungsoo turns to hear Chanyeol asking yet another question.

‘You’re not being who you are. All of you. None of you is as you are created. You’re supposed to follow what the author says and makes you feel, but none of you…’

‘Humans disobey their gods every day. Why can’t we?’, Kyungsoo turns to see Dracula, ‘I do not wish to follow every word etched on my fate by a creator who has no care for me’

‘But you’re Bram Stroker’s Dracula. You mean the world to him. You are his creation’

‘Then why did he make me like this? All this searing anger, this sweltering pain, the monstrous thirst I feel every day which I am not able to quench. To breathe me enough life for me to live but not enough to love. Tell me, human, do you think I am loved?’

 

***

 

‘So, what do you want to do now?’, Chanyeol asks as they sit inside a bar, an old jukebox playing Elvis Presley in the background. Kyungsoo sips his beer and looks ahead at the glass window to see his reflection, a small bruise around his neck had already appeared. After Dracula had kicked them out, they had nowhere to go but the old bar at the end of the street.

‘No lead, no suspect and no idea on how to get home to get this stupid thing to work’, Kyungsoo throws the USB on the counter, taking another swig of his beer, ‘I’m locked in a world I continue to understand less of the more I try to learn them, I’m most likely going to get fired for leaving a whole Division unattended and your story is left unfinished because their two main characters are gone. What a great day I’ve had’

‘Don’t give up now. We may find another lead when tomorrow comes’, Chanyeol pats his back, ‘Now, let’s drink up and rest for the night’

‘And where do you think we’ll find shelter? Is there a motel you see anywhere?’

 

***

 

‘Welcome to Bates Motel, how can I help?’

‘I don’t feel good about this’, Kyungsoo looks around, seeing Norman Bates by the reception, smiling at the pair, ‘He’s a psychopath who kills his guests’

‘We just met a vegan cannibal and a heartbroken vampire. I highly doubt this person is a killer in this reality’, Chanyeol reassures the officer, standing first and exchanging smiles with the sweet boy.

‘Hello, may we acquire a room for the night?’, Chanyeol was more than happy to speak up on behalf of them, his eyes ogling at the flashing neon ‘open’ lights to which he continues to marvel over.

‘Sure, if you’d like to come this way’, Norman Bates, yes, the Norman Bates guides them towards the elevator, a key in his hands. Kyungsoo thought this day couldn’t get any weirder.

‘So, which stories do you come from. I don’t think I’ve met you guys before’, Norman smiles at them, his teeth showing. He had an innocent look when he smiles, one which makes you want to protect him, his long black hair slightly unkept. He had on such a pretty boy aura, you’d be proud to take him home to meet your mother.

‘We… Uh…’, Chanyeol looks at Kyungsoo for help, not knowing any stories apart from his own.

‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’, Kyungsoo throws it out at random since it was the first book he thought of.

‘Oh, must be a tough day for you guys’, Norman nods pitifully, reaching a handout and patting Chanyeol’s shoulder.

‘Why’s that?’

‘Well, one of your characters went missing right?’, Norman guides them inside the elevators, pressing the floor button four.

‘They did?’, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo simultaneously ask in surprise. Norman senses this and looks at them oddly as if they should’ve known the news before anyone else.

‘Oh yeah…’, Kyungsoo coughs before trying to calm his shocked expression, ‘Yeah… We heard about it’, he pokes Chanyeol’s sides, trying to get him to calm down too.

‘Must be odd, isn’t it? To think such a small character would affect the whole entire story’

‘Who went missing again? I forgot’, Chanyeol tries to cover his own tracks whilst asking the question and Kyungsoo thought he almost blew their cover by such a half-ass excuse, but Norman continues to converse with them.

‘It was a small child in the village. Apparently, his disappearance meant that the monster would never have met the family down by the river, thus the monster not finding his motivation to seek out Dr Frankenstein in the climax’

‘You know the story?’

‘Of course, I do. The monster was a frequent stayer here’, Norman points out, his long sleeves slightly dirty and muddy to which Kyungsoo can only assume the worst in, ‘In fact, there’s also officers coming and staying over here for the night and I’d hear whispers’

Kyungsoo, at this point, didn’t care that Norman Bates was a psychopath who had just dug a grave for his previous kill. He edges closer to the young man with an ironic innocent look.

‘So, what do they say?’

‘Well, some usual bullshit here and there but there was something that I heard this morning’

‘What?’

‘There are stories having to be closed down because of missing characters. Their endings have caused an uprising in the human world since the people don’t quite like a different ending’

‘Stories with different endings…’, Kyungsoo whispers to himself, ‘So what other stories are closed?’

‘I have no idea. They didn’t specify, but apparently it’s growing’, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo exchange looks, a worrying atmosphere between them. Kyungsoo tries to string everything together, but the more the pieces it, the more he thinks that things are still not adding up. Missing characters, characters who aren’t themselves anymore, changing stories. None of these should be possible. The simple essence of story writing is the freedom to control whatever you create and if the writers themselves couldn’t control their characters anymore, then where are they exactly?

Could an uprising be possible? Then why wasn’t it happening sooner? Shouldn’t all characters want to change their own outcome to their own accord? Why is only a select handful standing up?

Before Kyungsoo can draw his thoughts to a conclusion, he looks forward to seeing a group of officers, matching his old uniform which he had discarded, laughing amongst each other. Kyungsoo grabs Chanyeol’s hands in fright, dragging them to the other corner of the hallway, hiding behind the long curtains by the windows.

‘Wha-’, before the prince can speak another word, Kyungsoo holds his hands against his mouth, his eyes warning him to keep quiet as he looks by the end of the curtain to see Norman conversing with the officers.

‘So, what are you doing on the third floor?’

‘I was just taking in some new guests who…’, Norman turns around, tilting his head in confusion, baffled as to why the new guests were nowhere to be seen, ‘I thought they were right behind me…’

‘Oh Bates. Always with that mental head of yours’, one of the officer’s laughs, ruffling Norman’s hair and pushing him slightly, ‘You know that voice in your head? It’s not your mummy’, one of the officer comments, earning him an array of laughter and another gush of hands pushing Norman around the corridor.

‘And you need to stop acting like a child. It doesn’t suit a psycho like you’, another sound of laughter shared between the officers can be heard as they continue to make fun out of the boy.

‘What rude little-’

‘Shh’, Kyungsoo warns Chanyeol before their voices can be heard, staying still and eyes still looking out.

‘Guys, we don’t have time for this’, one of the officers finally steps in and pulls Norman out of harm’s way, ‘We need to go back. We have a meeting at the main headquarters of Chartam’

‘Is it about the Nursery Division?’

‘Yeah. Apparently, it’s fully closed and won’t be opening any time soon’

Kyungsoo froze. It seems like his lungs were giving way as he holds his breath in, trying hard not to feel some kind of way.

‘Apparently, the Head Officer committed suicide and the only other officer in charge in the division had run away’

_Ran away?!_

‘Shit. Why?’

‘Probably because he didn’t want to be held responsible for the missing character right after the Madam’s death’

‘God, that’s so messed… And in the Nursery Division?’, the officer’s words were still noticeable, but it had started to become faint as they walk on towards the elevators, exiting the floor.

‘Ran away…’, Kyungsoo growls to himself, his voice low but hammered in anger, ‘Ran away?!’, Kyungsoo brings his hand down from Chanyeol’s mouth, gripping on the curtains instead as he kicks the wall in, ‘They told everyone that I had ran away? I was locked in! They disobeyed Chartam rules and locked me in!’

‘You guys are still here?’, Norman turns to see where the noise was, his eyes landing on Kyungsoo and Chanyeol standing close to each other, ‘Oh right… I should probably give you your privacy’, he bows to them, trying not to get in the way.

Now that Chanyeol sees it, looking down, he is rather close to the small officer.

‘This is not what it looks-’

‘Silly me. I shouldn’t be making my guests feel uncomfortable. Sorry’, he apologises again, scurrying along out of the way.

‘Hey’, Chanyeol reaches out, ‘You know you’re not an inconvenience, right?’

‘Huh?’

‘You’re a great motel keeper and I would like to believe that you’re also a great person too’, Chanyeol smiles fondly at the small and slightly terrified man. Kyungsoo, who was too busy in his own self-interest didn’t think in much of the matter, moving along and grabbing the keys from Norman’s hands and heading straight to their room.

But Chanyeol made sure to reach out to the boy.

 

 

***

 

‘Ran away?’, Kyungsoo continues to whisper to himself as he sits cross-legged on his bed, looking out at the wall with a picture of a cat hanging on it, ‘Why did they say that I ran away?’, Kyungsoo continues to mumble to himself, ruffling his hair in frustration.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, had gone onto wonder what the box by the front of his bed was, inspecting in meticulously, his hand touching the smooth glass at the front. Kyungsoo had shown him a drawer of clothes already present in the motel for sleeping attire, the smooth and light wear of his shirt which matched coincidentally to his trousers made him feel more comfortable than the abomination that was jeans.

‘What is this odd device?’, Chanyeol asks, turning to look at Kyungsoo, waiting for an answer.

‘Huh?’

‘This’, Chanyeol once again points at the box, bending down to look at it straight in the eye, ‘It is a figurine? Or a trophy?’

‘That? That’s a TV’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘A television. It lets you watch movies and shows’

‘Movies?’

‘Goddamn it. Look’, Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, biting his lip in annoyance as he grabs the remote control on Chanyeol’s bed and turning on the TV. It showed an episode of Doctor Who to which Chanyeol stares at the box with his mouth open.

‘This… Puts people inside another dimension?’

‘What? No’, Kyungsoo replies, ‘Do you see this?’, Kyungsoo points at the remote control, ‘This is a controller, you press this button and it lets you see shows… Sort of like performances made by people’

‘You trap people inside smaller dimensions, so they can perform for you?’

‘No, all of this had been pre-recorded, done before but captured by a camera. This is sort of a replay if you can say that’

‘I don’t think I follow’

‘Forget about it’, Kyungsoo gives up, turning off the TV and throwing the remote back at Chanyeol bed. The two small beds were stood right beside each other, only a few inches apart. Kyungsoo was already sitting on his bed so it was when Chanyeol made the decision to lay down on his did the two finally stand next to each other in complete silence. Kyungsoo’s mind was already in a stressful situation and Chanyeol’s is overflowing in more questions and curiosity, it seems like the pair wasn’t going to get a well-rested night as they thought.

‘Do you really think we’re capable of an uprising?’, Chanyeol asks the officer once more, looking over to see Kyungsoo’s reaction which didn’t give much away. He noticed that, apart from being scared at Dracula’s lair, Kyungsoo didn’t show as much emotion.

‘It’s possible… Given the situation that we’re in’

‘But, if you’re willing to believe can start such an uprising… That means we’re also capable in thinking for ourselves’

‘That’s what’s got me in a loop’, Kyungsoo admits, laying down on his bed and hugging his pillow, ‘How can you guys think for yourself?’

‘It’s a possibility’

‘How can it?’

‘Well, if one can travel through space and dimension, clearly one could be capable to think for himself’, Chanyeol points out for one, Kyungsoo can’t really argue with that.

‘I suppose so…’, they were filled with another moment of silence between each other, yet their eyes weren’t closed.

‘Did you ever read about me?’, Chanyeol asks, a question that was not important or necessary to both of them, but in total silence, with nothing but darkness and a flickering of a small lamp by Kyungsoo’s bedside.

‘Your story?’, Kyungsoo responded, smiling to himself at the flickering thought of a long passing memory, ‘Every single day’’

Really?’, Chanyeol turns to his side, facing Kyungsoo, watching the boy smiling to himself, ‘Do you like my story?’

‘As a child yes. I would read it every day and night’

‘Wow. I’m honoured’

‘You should be’, Kyungsoo laughs, ‘You became the man everyone wished to have’

‘What can I say. I am ravishing’, Chanyeol jokes, surprised yet satisfied that he also got a laugh from the officer.

‘You were…’, Kyungsoo smiles, yet there was sadness in his eyes, ‘Including mine’

‘Huh?’

‘You probably also have this problem in your kingdom since you were written in a time where you were supposed to save the princess and marry her’, Kyungsoo points out, his eyes looking up at the ceiling and counting the different cracks on them. He wasn’t the sentimental type, nor was he the type to wallow in the past, so he rarely ever speaks about his childhood, ‘I used to dream every night that you would save me instead’

‘Save you?’

‘It’s odd, isn’t it. A boy wishing to be the one to be saved by a handsome prince, but here I was, dreaming that you would come on a white horse and save me’, Kyungsoo laughs to himself, ‘So much so that my parents’ found me odd. They knew by then that I was gay’

‘Gay? You mean joyous’

‘Nope. Gay as in a man liking a man like a man likes a woman’, Kyungsoo explains, ‘That’s not that normal type of way to fall in love with people in my world. My parents didn’t oppose it, but they weren’t exactly open arms about it either… It served as a messed-up recipe for my childhood’

‘A man loving a man…’, Chanyeol thought to himself, ‘We’ve never had that in my kingdom before…’, Chanyeol, whose body was still turned to face Kyungsoo, ‘But I don’t see any difference between it’

‘Between what?’

‘Two men falling in love compared to a man and woman. Surely everything stays the same apart from the…’

‘Apart from the?’, Kyungsoo chuckles as the prince stumbles on his words at the last sentence, Kyungsoo turns to his side to face the prince, the two made eye contact as the night continues to transcend.

‘Well, the lovemaking of course’, Chanyeol coughs the last bit out, turning to his other side to avoid eye contact. The officer can only laugh. He didn’t think Prince Chanyeol was capable of being flustered.

‘You really think there’s nothing different or wrong with someone like me?’

‘Well, I can’t lie. It is very different, but not wrong’, Chanyeol shrugs.

‘Hmm, different but not wrong. That doesn’t sound like a bad slogan’, Kyungsoo chuckles, ‘Maybe that could be the title of my autobiography’

Chanyeol hears Kyungsoo’s hearty laugh and he couldn’t help but smile.

‘So, does this mean I made you fall in love with me?’, Chanyeol asks this time to make Kyungsoo flustered.

‘I wouldn’t say you per say did… Probably the idea of you…’

‘Honey, I am made up of ideas. My body is words. You fell in love with me, didn’t you?’

‘I did not’, Kyungsoo grabs his pillow and throws it at Chanyeol who catches it and throws it right back at him.

‘I’m honoured to have you fall in love with me’

‘I didn’t fall in love with you’

‘Sure, you didn’t’

 

***

 

Kyungsoo wakes up, his eyes fluttering open as he squints from the sun escaping the cracks between the corner and kissing his skin good morning. For a moment, he doesn’t remember where he is, just hugging his pillow and going back to sleep since it felt like it was too early for him to wake up.

It wasn’t until he opens his eyes for a moment, landing on the other bed to where another person was laying down and sleeping did every memory that had happened in the past 24 hours came back to him, surging like angry waves against the soft sands. Kyungsoo lifts himself up hastily, looking around the motel.

‘We gotta go’, he whispers to himself, throwing the blankets off him and standing to his feet, ‘Your Highness! We need to go!’, he walks over and shrugs on the sleeping prince, shaking him awake, ‘Your Highness’

‘Five more minutes’, Chanyeol whines, his mouth slightly open, evidence of a damp patch on his pillow showing that the prince must’ve drooled in his sleep.

‘Your Highness’, Kyungsoo urges on, ‘I beg of you, we have to leave now’

The night when Kyungsoo laid in his bed awake right after his conversation with Chanyeol, something seeps into his mind. A small thought implanted in his head which continues to grow like a parasite.

_Different but not wrong._

_Different but not wrong._

He let it simmer for a bit, but the more he thought of it, the lesser he understood it. Stories have fated ending, endings which should be abided on. No character has a free will in their own stories, trapped in their own fated world where everyone had a role to play for the greater good of the story.

‘Chanyeol, wake up. We need to leave’

‘Why?’ Chanyeol finally opens his eyes, lifting his head up slightly, showing Kyungsoo his messy hair, strands flying everywhere.

‘We’re going to make someone fall in love’

‘Who?’

‘Van Helsing’

 

***

 

It wasn’t hard to find the professor. After being handed a generous amount of food by Norman, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol make their way out of the motel, Kyungsoo still chewing on his bagel.

‘Why are we doing this?’

‘I need to prove a theory’, Kyungsoo explains with his mouth full, pulling the sleeves of his hoodie to hide his hands.

‘Prove what exactly?’

‘That characters are starting to humanise’

‘Humanise?’

‘Think for themselves, act for themselves’, Kyungsoo elaborates, quickening his pace so they can arrive at Dracula’s lair soon.

‘You think we’re becoming like you?’

‘Maybe… The hypothesis stands that maybe there’s a chance for a character to start feeling actual emotions outside the given ones they receive for the betterment of the story’

‘And if your theory is proven. Then what?’

‘Then I know exactly what’s happening here’

 

***

 

It wasn’t hard to find Van Helsing’s home since it was the only house close enough near Dracula’s lair.

‘So, you’re not terrified that he might waltz in and suck your blood?’, Kyungsoo asks as he sits down on the kitchen chair, Van Helsing fixing them up a cup of tea once finding out that Kyungsoo was officer visiting the Horror Division for the first time.

‘No, he would never do that. He might be tough on the outside, but there’s a softness in him’, unlike Dracula who has kept his original attire, Van Helsing has seemed to have gone for a modern look similar to Chanyeol’s clothing. A leather jacket which compliments his equally pale skin, his orange hair bright and spectacular. Kyungsoo had noticed how young Van Helsing looked compared to his imagination.

‘So, how would you describe Dracula?’

‘Overdramatic. He doesn’t really need to stay in a rotting church but he likes to prove a point’

‘And what point is that?’

‘That he’s the king of everything’, Van Helsing rolls his eyes, carrying to mugs of coffee and placing it in front of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, ‘He thinks he’s better than everyone just because he’s Dracula, but the jokes on him since now he’s isolated and alone, with no one by his side, as it should be’

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo lean back at Van Helsing’s spitting words over the vampire, their pair looking at each other eye to eye.

‘This isn’t going to work. He hates his Dracula’s guts’, Chanyeol whispers to Kyungsoo, but the officer presses on, ignoring Chanyeol’s worries.

‘Why do you think he would isolate himself like that?’

‘As I said before, he’s big-headed and obnoxious. A man who only thinks of himself and not others’

_Bingo._

‘Do you want him to start thinking about others?’, Kyungsoo learnt his lesson, careful to word his questions so it won’t be too pressing.

‘No… I mean… Is it so hard to get some form of recognition from him? We’re from the same story and I should be the one getting praised for slaying him’

‘Did you want to slay him?’

‘What?’

‘The idea of having to kill Dracula every single time your book is open. Is that satisfying to you?’, Kyungsoo asks. This must have put Helsing on the spot that Kyungsoo wanted him since there was a moment of silence and a few more moments where Kyungsoo sees Helsing looking down on his neck as if he was looking at something that’s supposed to be there.

‘Doesn’t it hurt everybody when they have to harm someone?’

‘Yeah’, Kyungsoo nods, drinking his coffee and looking at Helsing’s neck, ‘Especially when it’s someone who cares for’

‘Exactly. You wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt them’

‘Yeah, of course… By the way… I just wanna ask since I’m curious… Where’s your crucifix? I remember quite clearly that you would wear one’

‘Oh… Right. Yeah, I lost it when I was walking home one night. I don’t bother trying to look for it’

‘Why. That’s the only thing which protects you from Dracula’

‘Maybe he doesn’t want to be protected’, Kyungsoo finally steps on the goldmine he so wishes to believe there’s gold in. He’s treading in dangerous waters, but he needs to take a risk.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You don’t want to be protected, because you don’t feel the need to be protected. You trust him, don’t you?’

‘Who?’

‘Dracula. You trust him enough to walk down the street without feeling threatened…’

‘And?’

‘You wish to see him also. By losing the crucifix, you are accepting – no – begging for Dracula to visit you…’

‘Why would I do that’, Van Helsing’s eyes were piercing and alarming, yet it was not hinted with a bright red glow. His sharp jaws were risen up and his tall stature made him look like the perfect threat for the vampire. Yet his thoughts and words never had any venom which was against the vampire.

‘If you love him, then I want to know that there’s nothing wrong. He loves you too’

‘What? I don’t love Dracula’, Van Helsing rises from his chair, baffled by such accusations.

‘Maybe you don’t love him, but you are certainly attracted to him’, Chanyeol joins in the interrogation, observing the way Kyungsoo asks his questions, sitting up straight and holding his hands together on the dining table. Chanyeol imitates him and adds his own questions, ‘Are you attracted to Dracula?’

‘His creator made him sound seductive’

‘That didn’t answer my question’

‘Oh, but it might as well have’, Kyungsoo smiles, more so to himself as he slowly begins to prove his theory, but also to the fact that there was a hinted blush on Van Helsing’s cheeks.

‘You know… It’s okay to be in love with someone, no matter who they are. It may be different, but it’s not wrong’, Chanyeol says in between their silence, Kyungsoo turning his head to look at the prince, a smile breaking on his lips at the boy’s words. He felt relaxed, at ease whenever he hears those exact sentences coming from his mouth.

He didn’t react. But the smile itself was enough.

 

***

 

‘Chanyeol, you need to let me use that mirror of yours’

‘What?’

‘I need to get back to my world quickly. If what I think is in Madam Velma’s USB is correct then I might just unveil something huge’

‘What is it?’

‘Don’t you see?’, Kyungsoo holds onto Chanyeol’s hand, pulling him to an alleyway and away from people, ‘Madam Velma must’ve known. She must’ve known that these characters were slowly trying to think for themselves. She must have made observations and added them in her notes. Along with my theory and her proof, I can show these to Chartam’, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but break a smile, feeling elated at finally having a lead on his case.

‘Must you use my mirror?’

‘Well, it’s the only thing that’s going to teleport me out of here, right?’, Kyungsoo points out.

‘Then how about me? How about my princess? We still haven’t found her yet’

‘She’s probably a runaway who figured out that she finally has free will. You’ll find her roaming around one of the Divisions and if I get this information to the higher ups, you’ll be able to travel between worlds without permission’

‘Are you sure about that?’

‘I’m sure. You’ll find your princess and you’ll live your happily ever after again’, Kyungsoo smiles, and it seems as though Chanyeol had slowly gotten used to his smile.

‘Let me come with you’, Chanyeol requests, something to which Kyungsoo wasn’t expecting.

‘What?’

‘Let me come with you. Let me be there when you speak to your higher’

‘I don’t think that’s possible Chanyeol’, Kyungsoo points out, slightly uncomfortable with the sudden rush of confidence the young prince had about his request.

‘Why not?’

‘You’re not real’, Kyungsoo says, ‘You can’t step into the real world without dissipating… The objects in other worlds barely last a month in our world or they become useless… I don’t think a character has stepped out and I think there’s a good reason for that’

‘So, you’re going to use my mirror and leave me stranded here?’

‘Like I said Chanyeol, once everything is settled, you’ll be able to go back to your princess and kingdom an-’

‘One night’

‘Huh?’

‘Stay here with me for one more night. When tomorrow comes, I’ll let you go and finish your case’

‘Why do you want me to stay one more night?’, Kyungsoo asks, the sun slowly beginning to set despite the morning only being an hour or two ago. Time works differently in each Division and it seems like the Horror Division needs more night than day to keep the Division running.

‘I like your company. It would be rather lonely to spend countless nights waiting for the go signal for you, it’s only in your best benefit to letting me have one good night here’

‘You’re telling me you actually enjoy my company’

‘Oddly, maybe’

Kyungsoo laughs at Chanyeol’s confession, looking at the prince who was still wearing the leather jacket and jeans that was given to him.

‘You know what… One drink wouldn’t hurt’

 

***

 

The pair is back inside the bar, Kyungsoo sipping his lager whilst he watches Chanyeol try gin and tonic for the first time.

‘Why is the colour purple?’

‘That’s what happens when you mix alcohol drinks together’

‘It’s an odd taste… Bitter’, Chanyeol points out, grimacing at the odd combination of drinks, ‘Our drinks are much better. Simpler’

‘Ale is gross’, Kyungsoo points out to which Chanyeol took offence to.

‘Ale is better than water’

‘That’s because your water probably tastes disgusting’

‘We have a sewers problem, I admit… But we are working on that’, Chanyeol points out, resting his sunglasses above his hair naturally.

‘You’re actually working on it?’

‘Yeah. I had a meeting with my princess and a few of our royal staffs and we all agreed to take upon a modern approach without a sewer system. I already made some designs’

‘Woah’, Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, ‘I didn’t think you’d be a practical prince’

‘How else are you supposed to run a kingdom?’

‘Touché’, Kyungsoo nods, sipping another drink, ‘Maybe we need more people like you in my world’

‘I’m sure your world is filled with fantastic minds already’

‘Nope’, Kyungsoo ends the word with a plosive pop, ‘My world is more messed up than yours. At least you know you’re going to get a happy ending… Or any ending for that matter’, Kyungsoo tells Chanyeol, looking down on his hands as he plays with his fingers, ‘The problem with living in my world is that you’re in the dark, almost every day, trapped inside uncertainty. You don’t know if today is your last day or the last day you’ll ever see your mum… Or dad… Or a friend. Living in the dark and not knowing what tomorrow brings is the scariest shit ever’

Chanyeol didn’t say much. He just listens to Kyungsoo, hearing his woes and admiring him for opening up about something so deeply rooted within him to someone he just met a day ago.

‘You have more freedom, you can fall in love with whoever you want, become whoever you want’

‘Yeah, but at what cost?’, Kyungsoo sighs, drinking the last of his beer, ‘Here I am, doing a job I’ve always wanted to do ever since I was a kid, but now I’m known as a runaway, a traitor and someone who’s stuck in a world that’s not his own. Having free will is not all fun and rainbows’

‘You know, you didn’t have to tell me any of this. It seems like something that should be kept to yourself and not told to a random stranger’

But you’re not a random stranger’, Kyungsoo whispers, ‘You’re my prince charming’

‘What?’, Chanyeol asks, waiting for Kyungsoo to say something, but the officer mealy just closes his eyes and laughs to himself.

‘God, I must’ve had a tad more drinks than I should’ve’, Kyungsoo sighs, looking down to his lap and continuing to laugh at what he said, ‘I’m gonna go and call it a night’, Kyungsoo gives in to the temptation of sleep, feeling his eyes turn heavy as he stands up and his visions blur slightly, his head aching for a moment.

‘Wait’, Chanyeol also stands up, reaching out for his arm before the officer can leave without him. Kyungsoo turns around, his eyes still slightly fuzzy due to the alcohol, looking down at the way Chanyeol grips his arm. His eyes trails back up until he’s facing Chanyeol’s, two eyes slowly making eye contact.

‘I’m really tired Chanyeol…’

‘Did you actually fall in love with me?’, Chanyeol asks, and it seems absurd to ask such a question, but Kyungsoo’s previous statement had thrown him off guard and now he’s drowning. He’s thrust into the sea of unknown and he’s slowly drowning.

‘Once. When I was a kid… But like I said. I liked the idea of you. What you are on paper’

‘How about now?’

‘What?’

‘Now. You’ve met me know. What do you think?’

Kyungsoo didn’t know why Chanyeol would ask such a question.

‘I don’t know. You are him but then you’re not. You’re more annoying then I’d imagine, much taller and have so much more eagerness to do whatever he wants but hold back and be submissive if he has to… I always thought you’d just kill anyone that was getting in your way, but you also know how to talk’, Kyungsoo didn’t really mind Chanyeol’s hand holding onto him, the pair standing by the side of the bar, their eyes only transfixed on each other.

‘And?’

‘Well, you have the same purple locks that I had to imagine. I’ve always found your hair to be the most magical’

‘What?’

‘It showed who you truly are… Someone who blends in with the rest but shows specks of himself in short bursts. That’s why your hair was the only one with colours in it. You didn’t disobey society, but you didn’t conform to it either’

‘You…’, Chanyeol didn’t know what to think of this comment. He had always wondered why he had been made different compared to the rest of his people back at the kingdom. He had wondered why he stood out from the rest. It didn’t occur to him that it was exactly what he wanted, ‘How do you know so much about me when we only had just met’

‘Like I said. You were my prince charming’

_Different but not wrong._

The prince’s own words circulate around his thoughts, looking down at Kyungsoo and finding some kind of peace amongst the chaos when he stands next to him.

_Different but not wrong._

He’s never tried it before, but the idea of pressing his lips against the officer’s soft ones wasn’t has displeasing in his head as he once had thought.

_Different but not wrong._

He had always wondered why he had never fallen in love with the princess in real life. They were indeed perfect for each other. They grew together, the hang out together, they’ve shared multiple kisses and even had millions of weddings, yet he found no gutted feeling for the princess.

_Different but not wrong._

Their lips pressed after a long moment of awkward silence, both their eyes wide open, looking at each other in shock and bewilderment. Kyungsoo’s eyes were round and shock, more so than Chanyeol’s, but given the fact that the prince had given in to the voice in the back of his head, pulling Kyungsoo closer to him and closing his eyes, relishing in the moment of selfishness, indulging in the officer’s soft lips which starts to move along with him.

Kyungsoo closes his eyes and is brought back to his childhood, years spent locking himself up in the toilets and reading his favourite book during breaks between classes. He remembers closing his eyes and imagining the prince’s strong arms wrapped around him, holding him close and pulling him in.

Was this real reality? Or was Kyungsoo dreaming?

‘You there’, a voice bangs them back into reality. Kyungsoo breaks away from the kiss, turning back to see an officer walking towards them, his uniform an obnoxious blue.

‘Doh Kyungsoo? Of the Nursery Division?’

Chanyeol stands up, standing beside Kyungsoo as the officer walks towards them.

‘How do you know me?’

‘You need to come with me’, the officer didn’t even greet him nor acknowledge him. His hands reach straight for Kyungsoo, pulling out his handcuffs and locking Kyungsoo in.

‘Wait, what are you doing? Where are you taking him?’, Chanyeol reaches out but Kyungsoo pushes him back. The officer whistles, bringing in another rally of three more officers, holding a baton in their hand and their guns resting by their sides. This was not a fight Kyungsoo wanted to have, especially since he didn’t bother to carry his gun on him.

‘Chanyeol doesn’t. They’re heavily armed’, Kyungsoo whispers, trying his best to cooperate with the other officers despite his head still slightly spinning.

The prince didn’t consider Kyungsoo’s words. His lips still felt raw from the kiss. Ever since leaving the kingdom, Chanyeol had little knowledge of the world he has bee thrust upon, therefore going with the flow and following Kyungsoo, taking his lead and going after his requests. But not this time. Seeing Kyungsoo bounded like how he was, his wrist around a metal rope, he didn’t want Kyungsoo to leave him like this. He didn’t want to see him being dragged off.

‘Kyungsoo!’, the prince shouts once more, pushing past the officers who dared laid a hand on him, pulling out his mirror and holding Kyungsoo’s hands as he touches the surface of the glass.

‘What the?’, the officer’s look in front of them to see nothing but a space in where the two people should’ve been standing.

‘Where did they go?’, one of the officer’s asks, their eyes looking at each other in confusion and somewhat terror.

‘How are we going to get Kyungsoo out of here?’, one of them whispers.

‘Let’s go back to the headquarters. He’ll know what to do’

 

***

 

Chanyeol lands on the ground with a large thump, feeling something heavy pressing against him.

‘Shit!’, Kyungsoo squirms, looking down to see Chanyeol’s arms wrapped around him, ‘Chanyeol what the fuck were you thinking? Are you nuts?’, Kyungsoo stands up, his hands still bound together by the handcuffs, but that didn’t stop him from kicking Chanyeol’

‘You just showed the officers that you own your own portal! Do you have any idea what they might so with that information?! They could take you! You could get punished!’, Kyungsoo screams at Chanyeol, the pair of them standing in an empty cobbled street, a tall black lamp post lighting the night street.

‘I couldn’t let them bound you like that! They’re supposed to be on your side, why were they binding you like that?’

‘I don’t know… But you shouldn’t have interfered’

‘I’m not letting them do that to you’

The prince’s words resurrected Kyungsoo, his lips stopping mid-sentence, about to complain to him that he was being overly dramatic.

I’m not letting them do that to you.

Kyungsoo’s eyes soften at the prince’s words.

‘I’d think not at where you’re standing. It is a dark night for two men to be walking the streets at such a frightful time’

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol’s head turns towards the voice which softly brushes into existence. Kyungsoo finally had the time to look around his surroundings and sees the old-fashioned cars and bricked houses connected to each other.

‘Who’s there?’, Chanyeol calls out, standing up and looking towards the back lamppost, the light slightly hitting a figure to which creates a shadow of a tall man looking ahead to them, a top hat covering his eyes, but they could see a small smirk playing on his lips. His hands were gloved in white, his figure wrapped around a three-piece suit.

‘You are not of this world, are you?’, the stranger asks, leaning on the lamppost, his right hand holding onto a golden pocket watch which hangs from the inside of his suit.

‘No, we’re not’, Kyungsoo calls out, taking a step closer towards the figure, ‘And you? Who are you?’

‘Me?’, the figure laughs hearty to himself, filling the empty street with noise.

‘I’m Sherlock Holmes’

 

***

 

‘So, why are you handcuffed?’, Sherlock asks, their footsteps clanking together as they walk towards 221B Baker Street.

‘I got arrested’

‘By who?’

‘The Officers’

‘Oh wow. You’ve had a bit of fun now haven’t you’, Sherlock smiles towards him in utmost pleasure, ‘Please do tell me more’

‘I’m the Officer who ran away from his Division’

‘Oh’, Sherlock’s smile continues to grow, ‘How wonderful. The Officer’s has been knocking on my door and asking me for help in finding you’, he smirks. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo stop in their tracks, Chanyeol holding onto Kyungsoo’s tied wrist again.

‘Oh, don’t worry my darlings. I rejected their offer’, Sherlock reassures them, ‘You’re safe with me’

‘How do we know that?’, Chanyeol asks, seemingly suspicious over the Victorian Detective.

‘Well, trust is a very important foundation in a friendship, which I would like to think that we are in this time of need’

‘Why would you consider us as friends?’

‘Because you’re an officer’, Sherlock points at Kyungsoo, ‘And you’re a prince from a fairy tale’, Sherlock then points to Chanyeol, ‘And you’re teaming up together to unmask the case of the missing characters’

‘How did you know any of that?’

‘My darling, those handcuffs wrapped around your friend, you look at them as if they’re a foreign technology. Your sunglasses are still resting on your head despite it being midnight and your discomfort in every day modern clothing is tragically obvious. It was clear that you were of another world that did not reflect the human world or was maybe set in a different type period where skinny jeans were invented yet’

Chanyeol takes a step back, surprised at how fast the detective talked and how detailed he as in analysing him despite only meeting in a prime time of five minutes.

‘How did you know we were teaming up together?’, Kyungsoo asks, watching Sherlock’s tanned skin and a playful smirk playing on his lips as he revels in people’s amazement as his great observation skills,

‘Your argument is similar to that of me and Dr Watson whilst trying to solve a case. It’s not that hard to reflect on each other’

‘I see you know a thing or two’, Chanyeol continues to glare at this stranger who knows too much for his own good, ‘If only I had my sword with me…’, he growls.

‘Chanyeol, be nice. He’s Sherlock Holmes. He’s a British Icon’

‘I don’t care what he is. He shouldn’t know this much… Maybe he’s still working for The Officers’

‘Ah! Finally, we’re here!’, Sherlock smiles at the sight of his house, placed at the end of the street, ‘Why don’t we get you some tea and biscuits now that we’re home!’

 

***

 

The room is small. Smaller than most houses. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo sit on the sofa, Kyungsoo picking at his locks once Sherlock opens the door and throws him a bobby pin. Unlocking handcuffs were something Kyungsoo knew how to do, so he didn’t waste any moment and started unlocking the cuffs.

‘Here, let me help’, Chanyeol jumps in and offers himself, grabbing the pin and grasping the end.

‘You know how to pick locks?’

‘I know how to enter a room that should not be entered’, Chanyeol responds to Kyungsoo’s question, the pair of them looking at each other before sharing a chuckle.

‘What a cute couple you two are’, Sherlock sets the tray of tea on the coffee table, sitting down on one of the spare chairs thrown into the living room. Kyungsoo once again would never have imagined Sherlock’s home to be messy, clothes everywhere, papers stuck on walls, tables and chairs.

‘We’re not…’, Kyungsoo was about to start, but he let it fade away. He allowed Chanyeol to be ever so slightly closer to him at the moment, unlocking his cuffs until they both here the pink which loosens them.

‘So, tell me more about what you found in your case?’

‘Shouldn’t you be giving us the information. You’re Sherlock Holmes’, Kyungsoo argues, seeing the way the tanned detective smiles at him.

‘I wouldn’t be making any conclusion if I don’t have an actual case in my hand for me to solve’

‘Right…’, Kyungsoo looks down on his tea, served in China, ‘We never asked you to be in this case’

‘That is true’, Sherlock sips his tea, taking off his gloves and folding it perfectly on the coffee table, ‘But indulge me. What makes you known as the run-away officer?’

‘I didn’t run away’, Kyungsoo grimace at the accusation, ‘I was the one who forced the department to give me two days to solve the missing person case in my Division… Not even a minute inside they had already shut down Nursery Division with me in it and without my knowledge’

‘That is a breach of human rights contracts’, Sherlock adds on, ‘But how did you end up here? Surely you must still be stuck in the Nursery Division for your story to check out’

‘Well, this is where I come in’, Chanyeol raises his hand, grabbing himself a custard biscuit and dunking it in his coffee, just like what Sherlock is doing, ‘I’m Prince Chanyeol. I made myself portal out of a small object and I use it to go around different worlds. It so happens that our fate crossed path because of it’

‘Ah. I see’, Sherlock nods, sipping his tea and thinking for a moment, leaving the whole room in silence and unattained. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol look at each other. They wait for Sherlock to say something, but they are left in silence, just the three of them, looking at each other, looking at nothing.

‘Missing characters have become a great deal of a situation here. It seems like every Division is slowly spinning under control and I can’t seem to pin why…’

‘We think it may have something to do with free will’

‘Free will?’, Sherlock repeats the last words, his eyes lighting up as he applies this new information, ‘That sounds plausible. I have heard of discontent characters, but…’, Sherlock pauses once more, leaving Chanyeol and Kyungsoo in a trance of forever waiting.

‘But what?’

‘All of the discontent characters I have met with are still all in their Divisions. I last spoke to them this morning’

‘Really? But shouldn’t they already have run away and into hiding?’

‘Which is why your theory is flawed’, Sherlocks points out – rather bluntly – might Kyungsoo add.

‘Then what do you think is happening’

‘I don’t know… I think I need a few more days to figure it out. It’s an odd world’, Sherlocks strokes his chin, ‘In the meantime, I suggest you take a rest, there’s a spare room by the end of the corridor’, Sherlock stands up, his cloak resting on the coat hanger and his sleeves rolled up. His black hair was short and combed back, legs long and walking back into the kitchen.

Kyungsoo didn’t move. He just leaned his back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

‘Why did those officers try to arrest you?’, Chanyeol asks, pulling out his sunglasses and placing them on the coffee table, his jacket creasing as he also leans his back next to the officer.

‘I have no idea… They probably think I did run away seeing as I’m not in the Nursery Division’, Kyungsoo sighs, ‘God knows if they’ve reopened in and found me missing’

‘Can’t all this be clearly explained?’

‘Not when I look suspicious running from the Officers. That stunt you pulled, that’s gonna put me in a very awkward place’, Kyungsoo points out. He didn’t want to make the prince feel guilty, but now he’s in a tight position and he doesn’t know how to get out.

‘Like I said. I wasn’t going to let them drag you out like that’, Chanyeol states one more time, ‘And you’re not going to make me regret it’

‘You truly sound like a Prince Charming’, Kyungsoo laughs, since it was the only thing he could do in this situation. He rests his head lightly on Chanyeol’s shoulder, closing his eyes and letting himself go for a moment, relishing in the peaceful silence between them.

‘Had we not been captured by the Officers, I would’ve continued kissing you’, Chanyeol whispers to him, his breath landing on his forehead as he looks up at Chanyeol who looks down on him.

‘Had we not been in this fucked up situation, I would definitely kiss you again’, Kyungsoo replies, his eyelids getting heavier and his body slowly aching.

‘No worries. We’ll talk in the morning’, Chanyeol leans down and kisses Kyungsoo’s forehead, his arms resting on Kyungsoo’s waist as he adjusts him to lay down on the sofa. He stands up and gives room for Kyungsoo to rest comfortably, his knees bent as he rests on the floor, his fingers stroking the strands of hair which blocks his view from Kyungsoo’s closed eyes.

‘Falling in love with an Officer. I’ve never heard of that before’, Sherlock’s voice looms over them. Chanyeol closes his eyes. It seems like there’s always a voice breaking into their silences together.

‘It’s not love, You can’t love someone you’ve recently met’

‘Aren’t you Prince Charming? The one who saves a Princess and marries her the next day?’

‘We’ve known each other since we were a child’

‘But you have no knowledge that the princess you saved was the princess you grew up with, thus meaning you were willing to fall in love with someone you had just met’, Sherlock comments, his eyes staying on Chanyeol as he watches the prince’s hand slowly leaving Kyungsoo’s.

‘Maybe I am just a robot. Having the same emotions which were given to me by my creator’, Chanyeol looks down at Kyungsoo. Maybe it was just the repercussions of his default emotions for him to be attracted to Kyungsoo. They met under odd circumstances, surely that must have affected him more than he’d like to think so.

‘We are not robots’, Sherlock points out, walking over to stand beside Chanyeol, ‘We bleed like them, we hate like them, we love to like them. We’re merely just projections of their souls. We are their dreams and their demons. If we’re talking honestly, we are the most human part of them brought to life’

‘Are you saying we might actually be humans?’

‘Not humans. But not just meaningless words either. We’re in our own thin line of humanity and imagination, but since it is a thin line, it can very easily tip over from one side to the other’, Sherlock’s words resonated within Chanyeol, his mind still blurred and mixed with different emotions and rules, telling him how to feel and how to act and what he should do next. But there was a voice. A small voice in the back of his head, trying to scream at him, trying to get him to listen. What could that voice be? The thin line of reality? And what did really want to say to him?

_Kiss him._

 

***

‘Good morning’, Sherlock raises his cup to greet Kyungsoo who walks into the kitchen looking like a mess. His hair is flying everywhere, and his eyes are still swollen.

‘I’ve taken the liberty to give you new clothes from my wardrobe’, Sherlock points at the perfectly folded clothes by the kitchen counter.

‘Oh. Thanks’, Kyungsoo mumbles, looking down to see a piece of bread already covered in jam and butter, ‘Is this mine?’

‘Well, it was Chanyeol’s, but I don’t think he would mind if you took it’, Sherlock smirks to himself, which Kyungsoo paid no mind to, sitting down and grabbing the bread. He hadn’t eaten anything properly since meeting Hannibal and he was parched.

‘Kyungsoo’, he hears Chanyeol calling out to him, ‘Do you know how this works?’, Kyungsoo turns to see Chanyeol walking into the kitchen. Looking down to see that the prince was struggling to button his shirt.

‘Having you ever buttoned anything?’, Kyungsoo stands up, wiping the crumbs off his hand.

‘Yes, I have, but there are too many buttons here’, Chanyeol complains, waiting for Kyungsoo to reach his hand out, buttoning his shirt from the bottom to the top.

Sherlock watches the two’s closeness, sipping his tea and minding his business as he reads this morning’s newspaper.

‘Honestly, Chanyeol, it’s not that hard’, Kyungsoo tells the prince off, slowly buttoning all the way to the top until Kyungsoo is looking up, his eyes facing Chanyeol’s lips, their sudden closeness becoming prominent as Chanyeol didn’t look away. They froze there for a minute, just looking at each other until the prince took the courage to lean in and give Kyungsoo a small peck.

‘Do you guys mind? This is my house’, Sherlock calls out, Kyungsoo’s cheeks turning into a bright red. He didn’t have time to feel like a flustered fourteen-year-old right now. He has a case to solve.

Chanyeol sits back down with Kyungsoo silently following him. The prince was now wearing a white button-down shirt with trousers to match the Victorian aesthetics of the Sherlock novels. He even had suspenders on.

_Please don’t roll up your sleeves._

_Please don’t roll up your sleeves._

_‘Please don’t –_

‘Goodness, this short is so long’, Chanyeol complains, rolling up his sleeves as he reaches out for the jam.

Goddammit, Kyungsoo thought as he looks at Chanyeol’s toned arms which were complemented by the white shirt.

‘So, Kyungsoo’, Sherlocks stops his trail of thoughts, ‘Got any epiphanies whilst sleeping last night?’

‘I don’t know’, Kyungsoo replies as he pours himself a cup of tea, ‘There’s not much to add to the situation, other than the fact that a coup is definitely starting’

‘I highly doubt it’s a coup from our side’

‘Then were would the coup start?’, Kyungsoo asks, Sherlock replying to him in glances, looking at him as f he should know the answer, ‘Wait…’, Kyungsoo sees the way Sherlock looks at him, up and down and suspiciously, ‘You think my side is starting a coup?’

‘It shouldn’t be ruled out’

‘Yes, it should be. We’ve done nothing but protect you and keep everything in control. We have special police training just for this job’

‘I’m just saying’, Sherlock points out, ‘If free will is starting to exist in our world then your world could be threatened’

‘We’re not being threatened by a bunch of book characters’

‘Hey now wait a minute. A bunch of book characters?’, Chanyeol intervenes and looks at Kyungsoo, ‘Do you have to keep making us look smaller?’

‘I’m not trying to make you look like anything. What I’m saying is that-’

‘No, what you’re saying is people like me can’t possibility outsmart people like you because we’re easily controlled’

‘You’re not real! That’s why!’, Kyungsoo bangs his fist onto the table, ‘You’re not real people. You’re just a figment of someone’s imagination. The moment you step foot out of that portal, you turn to dust because you don’t exist’

Chanyeol looks heavily towards Kyungsoo, his eyes drowning in a mix of anger and sadness.

‘I’m not real? Even to you?’, Chanyeol’s voice was a whisper, a little below a whisper. Sherlock looks at the pair, his cup of tea still in his hands as he slowly sets it down.

‘Kyungsoo, maybe it’s time for you to go back and confirm what our world has been dying to know’

‘And what is that?’

‘Are we real?’, Sherlock’s voice was hinted with something dark, foreboding as he asks a question which even humans are afraid to answer for themselves. Kyungsoo slowly gets up, looking down at Chanyeol is seeing the prince’s solid eyes, feeling something churn in his stomach as he realises what he just said to him.

‘Chanyeol, I-’

‘It’s better for you to solve this case now so we can move on from this. My mirror is in the living room’, Chanyeol says before Kyungsoo can even get a word out, ‘I’m done running around. I need to go back home’

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say, neither did he think he deserves much of a say anyway. He turns around, exiting the kitchen and into the living room slowly. He turns back to see Chanyeol continuing to chew on his bread whilst Sherlock folds his arms together and gives out a sigh.

They looked real. They feel real. Are they real?

‘Hello, Kyungsoo’, Kyungsoo turns around to find an Officer standing in front of him.

‘Wha-’, before his voice can rise to call out for help, the Officer grabs his arms and they disappear into mid-air, dissipating into nothing, with no signs that they were ever even there.

 

***

 

Kyungsoo wakes up with his vision blurred, his eyes transfixed in the mixture of red, blues and whites, floating shapes which blocks his view from reality and he lays still on the ground, too scared to move. His skin is cold, ice frozen as he feels the metal floors against him, the walls which caged him also made up of metal.

‘Kyungsoo, thank god you’re alive’, he hears a voice, tethering and broken, but he hears it nonetheless. His eyes slowly shift to his side, his vision slowly giving way to form an old man, his skin wrinkled and bruised, his hair white and his eyes brimmed with tears.

‘Gatekeeper John?’, Kyungsoo calls out, his voice hoarse and broken as well.

‘I tried to stall them, I tried to keep the portal open for you to escape but…’, Gatekeeper John’s voice was quivering, ‘They arrested me and locked you in there… I didn’t know if you were gonna come back’

‘It’s okay’, Kyungsoo finally garnered the strength to sit up at least, feeling dizzy the moment he got up, ‘It’s okay’, he continues to comfort the old man. He hugs the man close to him, the air trapped inside an enclosed prison cell with no windows to shed light on them.

‘I’m sorry’

‘It’s okay… It’s okay…’, Kyungsoo murmurs, ‘But Gatekeeper John… I need to know what happened. You need to tell me what happened here whilst I was gone’

‘Everything’

‘Everything?’

‘Everything that I was scared to happen’, Gatekeeper John wails, ‘Characters have gone missing, stories have been broken. Every single Division has had a loss of multiple story endings and they’re all started to close’

‘Shit…’, Kyungsoo whispers, ‘It looks like things only got worse’

‘We cannot close the portal!’, Gatekeeper John screams at him, his hand gripping on his arm tightly, ‘If we do that, they cannot be read’

‘This is just a temporary close. I’m sure Chartam would’ve made a decision to tackle the situation and get everything running back on track’

‘No. You don’t understand’, Gatekeeper continues to sound frantic, almost breathless, ‘You cannot rip these stories from the people. These are the starting point of change and outcome’

‘What is’

‘Words. A word can change an entire democracy in one second than a war which lasts a hundred. The moment the government is given a taste of power and control over these words, over these stories, who’s to say they’re not going to manipulate them to their advantage’

‘Are you saying that our government has something to do with this?’

‘The need for control is something that we yearn… Something that we greed over’

 

***

 

Chanyeol enters the living room to find it empty.

‘So, he really did leave’, he sighs to himself, combing his hair back and leaning on the doorframe.

‘Don’t feel too bad. Kyungsoo has a case that’s bigger than anything else right now’, Sherlock pats him on the back, ‘Do you want a biscuit?’

‘No thanks’, Chanyeol shrugs Sherlock’s offer, ‘I guess I’m stuck here until he fixes everything’

‘What is that portal you carry around anyway? It’s impossible for a character to go near a portal’

‘I made it myself’

‘Did you now?’, Sherlock’s eyes light up at the sound of another genius present in the room, ‘Do tell me more’

‘It’s nothing. I just followed and watched officers coming in and out of the portal, sometimes they would open it and fix the internal damage and I would write and take notes of it until I knew the steps into making one’

‘And you made your very own portal? What does it look like?’

‘I encased it in a mirror my princess gave me’, Chanyeol points out, looking out of the window to see the Victorian street, its grey clouds and working children already making their way down to the factories by the centre of the city.

‘A mirror?’, Sherlock’s voice was filled with questions, ‘You mean that one resting on my coffee table’

Chanyeol turns around to see Sherlock’s finger pointing at something. He looks down to find that sure enough, his mirror was still resting on the table, and more so, the small object that Kyungsoo had been carrying this whole time was also placed next to the mirror.

‘Why are they here? Shouldn’t Kyungsoo have taken it? He needs this… And he needed my portal to get out’

‘Kyungsoo must still be here then’

‘Or he’s taken away again’, Chanyeol’s hand turns into a fist as he punches the hard wall, ‘They probably arrested him when he came into the living room’, he reaches out and grabs the small rectangular object, sliding it into his pockets as he reaches out for his mirror, ‘I need to go look for him’

‘You can’t go into the human world, as Kyungsoo said, you’ll turn into dust’

‘Then where am I supposed to go?’

Sherlock looks across the room, his walls pinned with paper all over, his messy writing written everywhere, cases which are flown through all over his house. His eyes fall upon a particular paper, a scroll which came to him a few years ago which he never bothered to put down since he and Mr Watson was somewhat forgetful in tidying the house. He walks across, unpinning the scroll from his wall and passing it the Chanyeol.

‘I believe this man will help you’

‘Who is he?’

‘A very loyal man, one who takes his virtues very seriously. If you tell him what’s at stake, then he will aid you’, Sherlock explains whilst the young prince looks down on the scroll, reading it.

‘What are white walkers and why does he need you to find out what they eat?’, Chanyeol questions, looking down at the small scroll to which his fingers touch upon a stamp, red and full of fury, in the shape of a wolf which howls into the night.

‘Just a few altercations in the world of Westeros. You’ll find him up in the North and he goes by the name of Jon Snow’

‘How do I know to trust him?’

‘Because he’s Jon Snow and I trust him’, Sherlock points out, ‘I need to meet Mr Watson for another case, so I shall bid your farewell too’, Sherlock finally makes a move and walks over to his cat hanger, putting on his cloak and adjusting the time in his pocket watch.

‘Thank you’, Chanyeol bows to him, the pair sharing a moment of acknowledgement.

‘To save Kyungsoo is to save the world we live in. And I will do the best that I can to aid you with that’

 

***

 

‘They’re planning to rearrange the endings of every novel?’

‘Only the novels that deem a threat to them’, Gatekeeper John explains, the two sitting on the floor of the cold prison. It had been hours since Kyungsoo had woken up yet no signs of the doors opening. He had relied on all of his information on the old Gatekeeper who was locked up with him due to attempting to reopen the door to try and get Kyungsoo out.

‘You’ve heard this?’

‘Officers don’t know how to whisper’, Gatekeeper John explains, ‘Nor do they regard prisoners are humans with ears to listen’

‘Why would they do that? Changing stories for their own benefits… How could they even – Oh, shit…’, Kyungsoo answers his own question the moment a flashing useless memory comes to mind, pure gossip which passes him by, ‘The missing authors… They must’ve kidnapped the authors and forced them to write the characters out of their books… Goddammit’, Kyungsoo kicks at the wall and crunches his fist into a ball.

‘ _A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man_ ’

Kyungsoo gazes on the old man, noticing his heavy breathing and ill-fated skin which turns paler by the hour. Gatekeeper John has been working here longer than Kyungsoo’s life, he must have seen the numerous attempts, the different alterations, the growing greed for power of control. He must’ve seen it all, and with those sorrow filled eyes, it looks like no one had learnt their lessons.

‘God, why did it have to come to this’, Kyungsoo sighs, bringing his knees up and resting his head on it, ‘Why did we have to reach out to these characters. Why can’t they have just stayed in the pages’

‘It’ll be a loss of knowledge and magic had we not interacted with them’

‘Yeah do interact with them. We read them, we read their stories and their lives and we move on. Why must we be difficult’

‘They’re more than just words on a page, young man’, Gatekeeper John says, his voice heavy and breathless, he coughs for a few minutes whilst Kyungsoo looks blankly on the wall, ‘They are just as much as living as we are’

‘No, they’re not. They’re just words’

‘Words created by their creator’

‘But you just can’t do that. You can’t create something out of nothing just with words’

‘How did you think God made us?’, Kyungsoo turns to face the old man, seeing his blank expression but serious eyes, ‘God said let there be light… And the stars and galaxies were born’

The prison becomes colder, darker, yet Kyungsoo feels a slight warm in Gatekeeper John, their arms touching as they sit close to each other, filling the voids with nothing but their words.

‘You know…’, Gatekeeper John turns to look at Kyungsoo’s eyes, ‘God made us in his image, which means our words has just as much power to bring and tear life apart’

‘So does that mean… Does that mean Chanyeol is real?’

 

***

 

Chanyeol places the scroll on the mirror before touching it, transporting out of Sherlock’s home and straight into the piercing cold of the North. His eyes lands back to the familiar structure of bricked castles. He looks around to see soldiers, men and women in heavily furred coats training with their swords and skinning hunted animals. He smells the familiar stench of dung and rotting meat. The landscape paints so much like home.

‘Who are you?’, a soft voice basks in his landscape, his eyes landing on a fair woman with hair of fire, her hands by her side at her eyes a menacing blue.

‘I’m seeking for a man named Jon Snow’, he asks, this entails her softer reaction.

‘What do you need my brother for?’

‘I need his help’

‘Help for what?’

‘A case of missing characters. I need his help to stop it’

‘You’ve had missing characters in your story as well?’, she asks, baffled yet rejoicing.

‘Yes’

‘Then come with me’, she commands, walking past Chanyeol to which the prince can only follow, seeing the trail of her dress behind her. He hears the clanking of metal and the cold touch of pure air mixed with the smell of fire and ashes. It reminded him of his home, his own kingdom which is probably in bare waste since two of their most important characters have disappeared from plain sight.

Chanyeol wishes he could go back and warn his father, or even his royal servant what is about to happen. To think of his whole kingdom, frightened and clueless, in the midst of something that may or may not wipe out their whole existence within a snap of a finger.

‘Jon, someone’s here to see you. He says he’s experienced missing characters too’, the regal lady opens a door which led to a small room, humble compared to his own headquarters, a small bed with a simple table by its side and a fireplace by the end.

Chanyeol sees a man sitting, his hand leaning on the table as he looks up and stares at him. He’s wrapped around in blankets, cloth which was embroiled with sheep and wolves, interwoven together.

‘He’s here to help… He’s here to help get Arya back’, the lady smiles, standing next to her brother and hugging him close, ‘You don’t have to keep leaving the wall. Arya didn’t run away, I knew she didn’t’

‘Sansa, we still don’t know that’, Jon whines, looking down to his bruised leg which had turned a reddish purple, ‘Arya can’t just disappear in thin air’

‘But she could’ve. As I said, if there are multiple characters missing in other worlds, then it’s only safe to assume that they were not willing to disappear’

‘Sansa…’, Jong calls out, massaging his leg and wrapping his blankets tightly around him.

‘If I may intrude’, Chanyeol finally speaks out, the pair of siblings turning to look at him, ‘I believe your sister may have a point’

‘What?’

‘I’ve been working closely with an Officer. I have seen first hand that these missing characters have repercussions on a bigger scale, one which will affect not only your story but everyone else’s’, Chanyeol walks closer, his thin clothes not helping him brace the cold winter of this kingdom.

‘So, what do you want us to do’

‘I don’t know. Sherlock sent me here to get you’, Chanyeol admits, ‘I did not know who you are before I came here’, the prince didn’t want to admit of his plans or lack thereof but seeing the pained expression on the sibling’s face, it only made him want to try it, want to see if it may work.

‘Although I could use with some help with something’

‘What is it?’

‘I’ve been separated from my Officer and I need to be with him right now’

‘You want me to guide you somewhere?’

‘No, I need you to wait for me’, Chanyeol requests.

‘Wait where?’

‘Outside the portal… I’m going inside the human world’

‘Are you insane?’, Sansa turns to him, her expression gazed with shock, ‘You’ll wither into dust. You don’t belong in their world, none of us does’

‘Which is why I need you to wait’, he turns back to Jon, ‘I don’t know if it’s going to work, but I need the Officers to be distracted so that I can use the portal and I need you to wait. If I make it out alive, that means every character can pass through into the human world and it’s your job to-’

‘Follow you’, Jon finishes his sentence, Sansa looking down at his brother in fright.

‘Are you insane? We don’t know where their world is or what it holds. You can get killed!’

‘I cannot be killed. I’m a figment of one’s imagination’, Jon coughs, standing up with the help of Sansa.

‘I’m going to get my Officer back and I’m going to find out what’s going on once and for all’, Chanyeol approaches Jon so that they’re facing each other, ‘We need our people back, alive and well’

Jon looks at Chanyeol. He sees the same determination in his eyes as he has with finding his little sister. And he’d be damned if he didn’t follow him.

‘Lead the way’

‘Are you fucking out of your mind?’, Sansa continues to step her foot down, walking over and pulling Jon back, ‘You’re injured, and this is a suicide mission’

‘Everyday of our lives is a suicide mission’, Jon replies, reaching his arm and holding onto his sister, ‘In our time here, I barely get to see you all, my sisters, my brothers. And now that Arya is really missing, I need to find her, and this is our only hope’

‘But… But…’

‘You’ll keep everyone safe, won’t you?’, Jon looks down, giving Sansa a comforting smile, ‘You’ll protect everyone, I know you will’

‘What if it doesn’t work? What if Arya is still missing… What if you go missing?’

‘I promise you, Sansa. I’ll come back’, Jon gives Sansa a warm hug, shared between the two siblings before parting, leaving the blanket in her hands, ‘Thank you for making this for me. The sheep was a bit much’

‘You’re a stark, a dire wolf, but you’re also a Snow, pure white and just as innocent as I was when I was a child’, Jon smiles down at his sister, his hand reaching to stroke her hair.

‘I’ll be back, I promise’

And with that, Jon Snow follows Chanyeol out of his chambers and into the cold evening.

 

***

 

‘We need to get out’, Kyungsoo stands up, looking around the room in search of something, ‘We need to warn the public of what’s going to happen. We can’t let the government brainwash everyone’

‘What can we do? We’re locked in and it seems like they’re not planning on releasing us… Alive anyway’

Kyungsoo feels his breathing turn heavy, spinning around the room in hopes to get something, a needle or a pin to unlock the door, but everything is clear smooth, even the door is smooth with no lock. It was probably fingerprint locked.

‘Can’t we call the Fountain? The keeper of keys? Surely, he must not have been part of this?’

He is, whether he was willing or forced, he is. He was the one that got me arrested and the one who executed Madam Velma’

‘What? Madam Velma was executed?’

‘She had a diary of the accounts of each character showing signs of free will. She was going to send it off to the Head Chartam, but her body was found somewhere outside the building of Chartam and without her diary’

‘Shit…’, Kyungsoo looks down, remembering the USB which he had found inside her computer, ‘Shit!’, he shouts, feeling his pockets to find that it wasn’t there anymore, ‘Fuck!’, Kyungsoo continues to kick and scream in anger, ‘Why the fuck did I leave it?’, Kyungsoo groans to himself.

‘Leave what?’

‘Madam Velma has a USB in her office. It probably has everything is written and more… If we upload that on the internet for the world to see, they’ll know that the government has plans to take over Chartam… We need that USB’

‘Where did you last leave it?’

 

***

 

Jon signals for Sansa to step forward, smiling heavenly towards the Officers who had just made their way from the portal, guiding them inside Winterfell, turning back and giving Jon and Chanyeol the go signal.

Chanyeol, now in the attire that he’s used to, holds onto the sword that Jon gave him, the air moving across the snow and into the heavy forest outside Winterfell. There’s no signs of life in these areas, not a sound of crickets or birds singing. Chanyeol looks down to feel his hands shivering in cold.

‘How do you live here?’, he asks, white mist forming when his breath touches the air.

‘Lots of furs’, Jon answers, chuckling to himself as he watches Chanyeol, who had probably never been this far up the North to experience the excruciating pain of winter.

‘So, how did you manage to befriend an officer?’, Jon asks the two trekking it deep into the forest where the portals are usually hidden, in the edges of worlds.

‘Not so much befriend’, Chanyeol replies, ‘When you’re stuck in the same compromising circumstances, you make do with the people you’ve got’

‘I know a thing or two about that’, Jon laughs, ‘I have a whole army of White Walkers loyal to me’

‘White Walkers?’

‘Zombies… The living dead’

‘Let me guess. They eat people?’, Chanyeol asks, expecting something gory and horrific to come out of Jon’s explanation.

‘No, they don’t have a diet, but they go grow weak if they don’t gain energy from somewhere’

‘Somewhere?’

‘Well, I wrote a letter to Sherlock, asking him why the undead grow weaker by the day. Since they don’t eat, they must’ve gained their energy from somewhere’

‘And what did Sherlock say?’

‘He says they’re like plants, creatures of the forest, so all they need is ironically the very source which gives life to the forest’

‘You mean sunlight?’

‘Yeah’, Jon Snows laughs, cutting some of the bushes that were in their way, the snow falling on their clothes as he does so, ‘Who’d’ve thought?’

‘Huh…’, Chanyeol nods, ‘Even the dead are alive…’

‘There it is’, Jon calls out, pointing at the circular device which rested by the edge of their world, ‘Do you know how to work one of these?’, he asks, which he shouldn’t have. Chanyeol was already walking towards the device, looking down on his mirror to find the same structure, but slightly bigger and more ropes coming out of them. Chanyeol’s eyes scan the sides of the portal, looking at the different buttons and trying to open up his memories of his notebook which had written everything that he needed to know about the portal, including the universal code to bring the Officer’s back into the human world.

_L 1485_

Chanyeol remembered seeing one of the Officers press the code whilst he was hiding in the forest and watching him, making sure to make a note of it.

‘Right’, Chanyeol claps his hands together, looking at the keyboard and pressing the code, ‘If I don’t make it out alive, just pretend nothing has happened and walked on’, he orders Jon who takes a step back as he watches the portal coming to life, spinning around to create balls of light inside the circumference, ‘But, if I give you the go signal, you jump right in, okay?’

‘Okay’, Jon Snow waits, holding onto longclaw and positioning himself. Chanyeol does the same, holding dearly to his sword as he faces the portal.

‘This is a nice sword’, Chanyeol comments, trying to distract himself from what he’s about to do, trying not to show his shaking hands.

‘It’s called a widow’s wail’, Jon comments, making Chanyeol look down at the sword then back at him with crossed eyes, ‘I didn’t name it’, Jon raises his hand.

‘You know what, whatever’, Chanyeol mutters, shaking his head and turning back around to face the portal. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

He didn’t have time to rethink his strategy as his legs begin to move without his head’s knowledge, running straight into the portal.

He sees gold and silver, fragmented shapes and colours he’s never seen before. His body feels weightless and he feels his lungs caving in as he floats into nothing, just nothing but space and shapes he can’t even touch, phasing past him. His muscles concave and he feels an immense pain in every cell of his body as if they’re fusing together for the first time, crystallising inside him.

His screams were buried into nothing, stuck in a vacuum as he continues to spin, being thrown around everywhere until finally, he hits something.

He hits the ground.

‘Fucking hell’, Chanyeol mutters, spitting out blood which he had begun to drool, his eyes bloodshot red and nails yellow. He didn’t have time to think, grabbing the widow’s wail and throwing it back into the portal which will hopefully give a signal to Jon Snow for him to enter.

Chanyeol slowly starts to stand, wailing at the pain he feels, as his body had just been ripped apart and sewn back together again. He did not like the feeling and could’ve sworn that the Officers never felt like this. His eyes which land on the halls of the main building of the Human World sees it as empty and bare, not a source of life form in view.

‘Argh!’, he hears a scream coming out of the portal as Jon Snow lands on the ground with his arms clutched around his sword, ‘Fuck! That hurts’, Jon whines, feeling the same fragmented pain that Chanyeol had felt. Chanyeol bends down to help get him up, the pair being the only living thing inside the corridor.

‘I don’t know where the rest of the humans are, but we need to get going, just in case they find us’, Chanyeol orders Snow, dragging the man and himself out of the corridor and into a darker area of the building.

‘Why does it still hurt?’, Jon groans, limping with Chanyeol as they lean their bodies on the walls to keep themselves up.

‘I don’t know… But at least we’re not dead’, Chanyeol replies, looking around for a sign to guide him.

‘Where is your Officer anyway?’

‘I have no idea’, Chanyeol mumbles, looking behind him to see if there are any more doors that they haven’t gone into. Everything is monotone here, all painted in white and grey, everything in slick glass, lines crossing each other perfectly. The place didn’t look alive.

‘Where do you think he is?’, Snow asks, looking around the odd world which differed from Winterfell. Chanyeol, on the other hand, couldn’t answer. He didn’t’ plan this far ahead and he wouldn’t know the first place Kyungsoo would be.

They continue to walk on until they heard a door swinging open, their heads turning to see a man, old yet beautifully presented in his white suit and keys hanging from his trousers.

‘You’, he points at the both of them, his eyes scanning them up and down, noticing their attire and muddied skin, the two swords which they still held onto as they hold onto each other, ‘You’re not humans’, he whispers, his mouth opening and his hand frozen in mid-air in shock as he points at them.

‘Please don’t tell me we have to attack this old man?’, Jon whines, pulling out his sword and standing up straight despite the pain.

‘I guess we do’, Chanyeol groans, about to take out his sword but the man steps forward, being brought to life by their movements and waving his hands.

‘Wait! Wait, wait, wait!’, he shouts at them, raising his hands up, ‘I mean no harm! Seriously! This is… This is…’, he couldn’t help but break out into a smile, ‘This is everything’

‘What?’, Chanyeol and Jon simultaneously ask the man.

‘You’re the key’, he says again, moving forward and standing right in front of them, ‘I’m Sir Alfred. The holder of keys’, he introduces himself, ‘You are just the answer to everything’ before he could elaborate, they hear talking in the distance, their eyes flashing in worry at the sign of a group of Officers, this type dressed in all black.

‘Come with me’, Sir Alfred pushes them towards a door leading to another hallway, dark and with no light, they trusted the old man to guide them straightforward, they eye following his white suit.

‘As Holder of Keys, I watch and see everything in each Division. It was hard to spot you, but saw you with Officer Kyungsoo in the Nursery Division before you had disappeared’

Kyungsoo.

‘You know Kyungsoo? You know where he is?’, Chanyeol asks, running up to the old man, ‘Can you lead me to him?’

‘Yes, I can… And I have’, Sir Alfred stop in front of a door, placed right at the end of the corridor. Jon and Chanyeol watch him as he brings his hand forward into a glass and pressed onto it, lighting up and allowing for the door to open.

Chanyeol rushes past them, looking into the room which was dimly lit, his eyes landing on the floor to which Kyungsoo sit, next to a man, both their eyes closed.

‘Kyungsoo…’, he whispers as he walks over and bends down in front of him, reaching his hand out to touch his cheeks which were ice cold, ‘Kyungsoo, wake up. Wake up for me’, Chanyeol calls out, shaking Kyungsoo’s body and seeing no movement made from the young officer.

Sir Alfred and Jon Snow spot the Gatekeeper, walking over to him, Jon taking off his fur coat and placing it on the old man.

‘This prison is torturous for the human body. It slowly freezes them to death the longer they stayed’

‘Why did you let them do this?’, Chanyeol asks, lifting Kyungsoo off the ground and carrying him out of the freezing prison.

‘There was no hope for me. I could not stop them, they’re too strong’

‘Who?’, Jon Snow asks as he helps carry out the old man, ‘Who’s too strong?’

‘Them’, Sir Alfred whispers, Jon titling his head in an attempt to understand him.

‘Kyungsoo… Kyungsoo, can you hear me?’, Chanyeol ignores their conversation, his mind too focused on Kyungsoo right now, Kyungsoo… Please, come on…’, he continues to shake the boy awake, his warm hands resting on his cheeks, ‘You fucking told me you’d fix this… Then fix it’, Chanyeol whispers, bringing his forehead closer so that they’re touching, his eyes closed as he feels Kyungsoo’s skin freeze over him.

‘Is he dead?’, Jon asks, Sir Alfred keeping silence as he looks at what he had helped create by being a bystander, a silent witness who was too cowardice to stand up.

Chanyeol continues to rest his head against Kyungsoo, trying to give warmth to Kyungsoo’s skin.

‘Wake up for me’, Chanyeol whispers as he leans in and kisses Kyungsoo’s blue lips, ‘We’re not finished yet’

‘Blurgh’, Kyungsoo breathes in a gasp of air to which he opens his eyes and looks around, ‘What happened?’

‘Oh god’, Chanyeol sighs, hugging Kyungsoo closer to him. Sir Alfred looks down and hears the Gatekeeper coughing as well, breathing in a sigh of relief.

‘Chanyeol?’, Kyungsoo looks up to see the prince in front of him, embracing him in a warm hug, ‘How are you here?’, he asks, still coughing, ‘How is this possible?’

‘Guess I’m real enough to pass the portal’, Chanyeol comments, Kyungsoo pushing him away so he can see him, see the prince’s face which was still intact, which he can still feel on his skin.

‘You’re real?’

‘Real enough’

‘Guys, there’s no time to waste. The government are already preparing an announcement about the closure of Chartam. We need to stop them’, Sir Alfred calls, breaking both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol from each other and bringing them back into reality.

‘That’s right!’, Kyungsoo gasps, ‘The USB… I still need the USB’, he groans, getting up and feeling his legs turn into jelly, but Chanyeol catches him before he hits the ground.

‘What USB?’, Sir Alfred questions.

‘The USB which holds all the secret… I need it to-’

‘You mean this?’, Chanyeol pulls out a small object in his pockets, Kyungsoo’s eyes lighting up at the sight of the USB in Chanyeol’s hands.

‘You kept it safe?’, he asks, smiling as Chanyeol hands it over to him.

‘Of course’

‘Alright, we need to get a move on then’

 

***

 

‘Chartam has the main announcement screen to which he relays new stories which had been downloaded in, it’s like its own network system and it sent out to all household in the country.

‘So, if we get the USB in and send it off to everyone before the news of the new law breaks in then the public will be able to call a referendum for the new law which allows the stories to be unlocked’

‘And most importantly, not destroyed’, Sir Alfred adds on, turning to the left which led to a secret passageway and away from the crowd.

‘Once we get the signal in and send it off, we’ll make an announcement and how these two to the public’, Sir Alfred points at Jon and Chanyeol walking behind them, Jon holding onto Gatekeeper John.

‘Why?’, Kyungsoo asks as they turn another corner, climbing up the stairs.

‘People need proof to believe that the characters that they hold so dearly to their hearts are real. Once they do, there will be no going back, and the new laws will be blocked entirely’

‘How do you know that?’

‘We see ourselves in them, reflect our own mind in these characters. Not one person will be willing to kill apart of themselves, their good selves’

‘Hey, who goes there?’, they hear a loud noise commanding them to stop, Sir Alfred turning to the corner and grimacing at the sight of one of the suited men looking at them, ‘Who are these people?’, he asked Sir Alfred, his eyes turning to look at Jon and Chanyeol who are carrying the two prisoners that were told never to be let out.

‘They’re not supposed to – Argh!’ before the man can arrest them, Jon Snow runs forward and pushes him against the wall.

‘All of you, run now!’, he commands as he hears something blaring all over the building, the lights flashing red and the loud thumps of footsteps coming their way.

‘We need to leave now’, Sir Alfred holds onto Kyungsoo, ‘We need to run’, Kyungsoo grabs hold of Chanyeol and Gatekeeper John, running, but Chanyeol pushes him away.

‘What are you doing? We need to go’

‘I can’t leave Jon here. We need to distract them so you can have time to send in the message to everyone’

‘I can’t leave you here… These men have guns… They have technology that puts your sword to shame’, Kyungsoo’s eyes are frightened for Chanyeol, his hand holding onto the prince tightly. He didn’t know what would happen to the prince in the human world. He didn’t know if the prince might actually die and he didn’t want to risk it.

‘Kyungsoo, we need to leave now’, Sir Alfred once again screams at them once they hear a door opening and a flood of Officers walks in.

‘Go, I’ll catch up!’, Chanyeol pushes Kyungsoo back to where Sir Alfred was, running to the other side and meeting with Jon who blocks the hallway.

‘No! Wait!’, Kyungsoo screams, but he was being dragged already, losing sight of Chanyeol as they turn a corner.

‘Who said you could stay behind’, Jon looks at Chanyeol as they both wield their sword, positioning themselves as the Officers start running towards them.

‘And what? Leave you with all the fun’, Chanyeol looks ahead, bringing his sword up in the air, ‘Not a chance…’

 

***

 

‘Here it is’, Sir Alfred opens the door to the main network of Chartam.

‘Why is it empty?’

‘All staffs apart from the Officers were evacuated out’, Sir Alfred informs him as he turns on the main controllers of the room, ‘They didn’t want anything getting leaked’

‘Okay…’, Kyungsoo limps his way to one of the computers, turning it on ‘Have you loaded the mainframe yet.

‘Yeah, it’s already begun’

‘Okay’, Kyungsoo nods, slotting the USB in and waiting for it to load. He closes his eyes and prays that Madam Velma had followed through her notes and transferred everything in this USB. He needs her now more than anything, ‘Please, please, please’. He whispers, looking up to see that the USB has loaded, quickly clicking onto the folder and seeing scans of notes directly from her notebook.

Yes.

Kyungsoo smiles to himself as he drags the fail onto the main messaging board, quickly scanning through all of them and seeing the dozens of evidences she accumulated, video logs to which she has compiled together. Kyungsoo plays all of them, hearing her words and giving her evidence to the people. This was enough. This was more than enough.

‘Are we ready?’, Kyungsoo asks Sir Alfred, waiting to hit the send button.

‘Not yet. The light needs to turn green before we send it’, Sir Alfred stop Kyungsoo, making sure that the data is correct.

 

***

 

‘On your left!’, Chanyeol shouts as he pushes another Officer off him, picking up his sword which laid on the ground and throwing it at the Officer on Jon’s left who was about to yield a knife. Jon sees the Officer falling beneath him, picking up the widow’s wail and throwing it back at Chanyeol.

‘Come on, let’s get to the other side’, Jon commands Chanyeol, the pair running off before a new group of Officers come in their way.

Chanyeol is grabbed by an Officer, choking him in and pulling at his sides. Jon quickly runs back out and elbows the Officer’s face, kicking him to the ground before grabbing Chanyeol and running.

‘This way’, Chanyeol gasps, still trying to catch his breath as he pulls Jon to another corridor.

‘There they are!’, they heard someone screaming and a wail of bangs coming their way.

‘That must be the human weapons’, Jon breathes out, the pair of them standing behind the door, trying to keep silence as they hear slow footsteps coming their way.

‘Do you know who they are?’

‘No sir, but they were with the fugitives’

‘Then whatever you do, dead or alive, bring them to me’

Jon holds his breath whilst Chanyeol looks from the cracks of the door, observing the men walking past them and towards another corridor, waiting for a few seconds until they’re out of sight to open the door, a gasp of relief.

‘That was a close was’, Chanyeol chuckles, walking the opposite way as the men and towards where Kyungsoo went.

_Bang!_

Chanyeol hears the terrifying scream of the human’s weapon, his eyes shot wide as he turns around to see Jon standing with his back facing him, looking out to see a young Officer holding the gun out.

‘Jon!’, Chanyeol runs up to Jon Snow, catching him as his body gives way. Chanyeol quickly grabs the small dagger which rested by Jon’s ankle and throws it at the direction of the Officer, hitting him straight in the heart, the body falling to the ground before calling out for help.

‘You didn’t look behind’, Jon whines, gasping as he feels the blood leaving his body, his lungs being strangled and his body feeling pain.

‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’, Chanyeol calls out, holding onto Jon and pressing his hands on his wounds, ‘I won’t do it again’

‘You… Better not… I don’t think I’ll be here… To save you… Next time’, Jon gasps in between his words, blood dribbling from his mouth.

‘No, don’t say that. We have to get you back to Winterfell. You promised your sister…’

‘Not all promises are meant to be kept…’

‘Jon? Jon? Jon Snow? Jon…’

Chanyeol didn’t get an answer. Instead, he saw two eyes staring into nothing, blank and expressionless, blood seeping around them. Jon Snow grew cold in Chanyeol’s arms.

 

***

 

‘Are we ready?’, Kyungsoo asks again impatiently, waiting for the go signal but still getting nothing from Sir Alfred.

‘Give it one second’, Sir Alfred tells Kyungsoo, typing something quickly on his computer, in hopes that it may speed the process.

‘The news… Look at the news!’, Gatekeeper John points to the Billboard screen outside of the building which showcases the live news, being announced at the government’s desk itself.

‘They’re about to pass it… Shit’, Kyungsoo bangs the table, ‘When is this shit going to turn green!’, Kyungsoo screams, waiting for the light which was still blue, flashing at him, taunting him, ‘I need to see if Chanyeol’s alive… We need to hurry’

‘I’ll go back and see if they made it out, they’ll be able to find their way towards here’, Gatekeeper John runs towards the door, opening it and falling straight to the ground after a loud bang greeted him when he opened the door.

‘Gatekeeper John!’, Kyungsoo screams, looking down at the old man lying lifeless on the floor, a pool of his blood seeping through.

‘The government have ordered us to arrest you’, the man in the black suit walks over, it was the same man that Kyungsoo had met before.

‘I’m afraid I cannot let you have him’ Sir Alfred beckoned to the man, walking over to his view, Kyungsoo tries to move forward but Sir Alfred gave him a warning, ordering Kyungsoo to stay in his place as he moves along and in front of him.

‘You are breaking the law if you stand in front of me’

‘And you are breaking humanity if you are standing in from of me’, Sir Alfred stands his ground, not making another move even as the gun is pointed at right his head.

‘Sir Alfred…’, Kyungsoo calls out, trying hard not to shake, wanting to run and push Sir Alfred away.

‘If you do not stand down, you die’

‘I will not stand down, so I will not die’

The gunshot blasted through the room, leaving Kyungsoo to freeze in his place, his muscles tense as he watches Sir Alfred stumble to the group, his face crushed from the impact of the close bullet. Kyungsoo closes his eyes as he tries not to look down.

‘I will ask you again. Stand down, or die’, Kyungsoo continues to quiver, his body shaking as he sees the two men who have protected him thus far dead on the ground, he thinks of Jon and Chanyeol, who must’ve taken their own life to protect him too. He thinks of how he might never see Chanyeol again, to tell him he was sorry for ever saying those words to him.

‘I said stand down’, the man commands him once more, his voice loud and his gun pointing to him.

Kyungsoo waits, not letting his hand leave the mouse as he watches for the red signal.

‘Very well. Today now… You die’, the man points the gun right towards Kyungsoo, his fingers just resting on the trigger.

Kyungsoo sees the blue turn into red, clicking the button and closing his eyes to meet his fate.

He feels nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a little bit of pain.

He opens his eyes and looks down over his body to see where he had been shot, his hand pressing on his stomach in search of an injury, but he found none.

‘Kyungsoo?’

He looks up to the sight of Chanyeol, his sword wielded right inside the man’s stomach, his lifeless body dropping to the ground.

‘Chanyeol’, Kyungsoo gasps out, running over to where the Prince stood, his armour bloodied, and hands bruised, but he welcomed Kyungsoo with open arms, hugging him close and kissing his head as they reunite in a warm embrace.

 

 

 

 

_‘We are here to announce a new law in which –_

 

_‘Hello. This is Madam Velma. I am a Head Officer at the Chartam Headquarters. I have seen and interacted with many of the characters written in the stories that you hold dear in your heart. I have seen the beauty in which our minds can create, different worlds and different people. We are our own gods._

_But over the last year, something has changed, a growing independence as I watch each character grow outside of the cage that they are set in by their creator._

_Now, instead of rejoicing about this new discovery, it seems like the government is using this towards their benefit, changing minds and removing characters which they deem are unfit to their protocol. We have had numerous missing characters which had been pulled out of stories if their virtue doesn’t fit with our political stance._

_With the rise of free will running amongst the world of Chartam, it is against human right – that’s right p human rights, for us to wipe them out of existence for our own benefit._

_These characters can bleed, they can love, and they can feel, they are now living, they are now humans._

_We do not have a say in their existence, just as much as we do not have a say in death, which is what this new law will be enabling._

_They love as much as we love, they are as much as we are._

_I cannot let our world ruin theirs. They do not deserve it. I am hoping this message will be sent to someone who can hear and is willing to hear and someone who is willing to stand up and act with me._

_I hope this message will come across to someone to cares._

_Because in this world, we need people like you._

 

***

 

 

 

**SIX MONTHS LATER.**

 

 

Kyungsoo walks into the Chartam building, being greeted by his colleagues.

‘Hey, so how was your weekend?’, the new Gatekeeper of the Nursery Division asks, sitting down on her desk and waving to her superior officer.

‘Good, we had to be back by 11 though, since Chanyeol has curfew’, Kyungsoo whines, holding onto the keys which were handed to them after the arrest of the staffs which conspired with the government in the secret movement.

‘The Prince Charming dating the Holder of Keys. What a lucky man. He’ll be able to walk in and out of portals without a license’, another of his colleagues point out to which Kyungsoo laughs and shakes his head.

‘Well, he was the first to do it, so he gets a special pass’

‘Hey! Kyungsoo!’

‘Well, speak of the Devil’, his colleague's wolf whistles to him when they spot Prince Chanyeol walking towards him, in ripped jeans and a leather jacket.

‘What are you wearing? Someone could be reading your story in the next five minutes’

Relax, I don’t get introduced till Chapter Three’, Chanyeol chuckles, opening his arm for Kyungsoo, hugging his boyfriend tightly around him.

‘So… I have good news’, Kyungsoo smiles, leaning his chin on Chanyeol’s chest as his boyfriend leans down and gives him a kiss.

‘What is it?’

‘We manage to find George RR Martin’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. And he’s willing to rewrite Jon back into the story’

‘Oh thank god’, Chanyeol sighs, hugging Kyungsoo dearly, ‘That’s my man’, Chanyeol whispers to him, allowing Kyungsoo to feel comfortable, to feel right being beside him.

‘Who’d’ve thought that I’d actually be dating Prince Charming’, Kyungsoo murmurs to himself burying is head on Chanyeol’s chest.

‘Boo hoo! No PDA in the office!’, someone shouts from the desks, earning a good laugh from everyone as they continue to make fun out of their new boss.

‘Come on. Why don’t you visit the kingdom and see my castle?’

‘That sounds like a euphemism’, Kyungsoo grimace, but Chanyeol pushes him playfully.

‘You never said yes to be my date to the Royal Ball’

‘That’s because I never said yes’, Kyungsoo playfully flirts with his Prince, the pair walking over to the Fairy Tale portal.

‘You’re mean’, Chanyeol pouts, leaning his chin on Kyungsoo’s shoulders and caging him in another hug.

‘I’ll go if you stop being so clingy’, Kyungsoo giggles, kissing Chanyeol’s cheeks as they make their way inside the portal.

‘Wait for me!’, they hear someone screaming before Kyungsoo is tackled to the ground.

‘Cat! What are you doing here?’, Kyungsoo looks down to see the Cat in the Hat hugging him.

‘I want to see the kingdom too! With all the horses, gold and shoe!’

‘That’s a terrible rhyme’, Chanyeol laughs, stroking the cat’s ears to which he enjoyed more than he should, hugging Chanyeol too.

‘My rhymes are terrible when I’m super excited’

‘Well… I guess there’s no law against other characters entering different worlds’

‘If they were I’d be dead and gone’, Chanyeol points out, laughing as he watches Kyungsoo being dragged into the portal with the Cat by his side.

Chanyeol stays for a moment, looking out at the portal. It still hurts from time to time when he passes through. But not as much as the first time. He looks across the building, seeing dozens of floors of workers sent in to protect them, to protect their world from harm. He looks ahead to see Kyungsoo, his main protector, the Holder of the Keys.

He had protected Kyungsoo. He had protected his princess and he continues to protect his kingdom. And it feels nice. It feels nice to know that he was also being protected, that maybe he didn’t need to be the protector and the strength of his own story.

He didn’t need to be the character that everyone had caged him into.

He could be who he needs to be, as long as he had Kyungsoo with him.

‘Hey, wait for me!’, he calls out for them, running towards them, Kyungsoo laughing as he pushes the Cat away from Kyungsoo and holds onto him instead, the three of them passing the portal into a new world, a world of their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Presenting to you:
> 
> Doh Kyungsoo as Officer Kyungsoo  
> Park Chanyeol as Prince Charming  
> Kim Jongdae as The Cat in The Hat  
> Kim Minseok as Hannibal Lecter  
> Byun Baekhyun as Count Dracula  
> Oh Sehun as Van Helsing  
> Kim Junmyeon as Norman Bates  
> Kim Jongin as Sherlock Holmes  
> Zhang Yixing as Jon Snow


End file.
